Leadenhall Market, City of London Artist-in-Residence project 2022
Someone in a pub, in London, dozed off for a few moments & during that time an ancient God came back. Just a glitch in the space time grid. A God released by a mortal who briefly let their guard down. Human brains are the only places those ancient Gods can live now - we no longer believe they exist anywhere else externally, or that they are available to us. The God that was uncorked was Baccus, & in his few moments of freedom he crossed the Leadenhall Market. A short journey, but one that affected several different people.
This idea was explored by James Hudson during his 2022 residency. Using B&W film photographs taken at the market & a fictional text, he produced 30 large prints, that were displayed on site, & a 40 page zine.
Bacchus (also known as Dionysus) was the God of wine, vegetation, fertility, festivity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy & theatre. A Roman mosaic of Bacchus riding a tiger was discovered in London during building work close to the site of the Leadenhall Market. The surviving mosaic pieces were transferred to The British Museum in 1880.
