Morgan Quaintance works with film and sound to craft expanded portraits of individuals, while at the same time explo­ring collective cultural, social, and poli­tical moments from the past that shape our present.

In films such as Another Decade, the artist posits the socio-cultural promise of the 1990s against the lived experiences of multicultural communities in London. In the intimate portrait of Barbara Samuels in Early Years, biography and the journey towards self-actualization is explored in relation to one’s own creativity.

A Human Certainty brings together moving image and sound design in an installation newly conceived for the biennial. Shot and recorded in the spring of 2021, the artwork touches upon the subject of deep listening and longing through personal experience and reflects on our current moment. Encompassing states of stillness, flux, and possibility, the work continues Quaintance’s investigation into expressionistic and affective modes of filmmaking.

Over the past ten years, his writings on contemporary art, aesthetics and their socio-political contexts have featured in publications including Art Monthly, The Wire, and The Guardian and helped shape the land­scape of discourse and debate in the UK.

Morgan Quaintance is a London-based artist and writer. His moving image work has been shown widely with recent presentations at: Curtas Vila Do Conje, Portugal, where he received the Best Experimental Film award, and CPH:DOX, where he received the New Vision Award, both for the film South (2020); European Media Art Festival, Germany; Alchemy Film and Arts Festival, Scotland; and Images Festival, Toronto.

Recent films include: Anne, Richard and Paul (2018), Letter from Tokyo (2018, doc), Another Decade (2018), Early Years (2019), Bataaxalu Ndakaaru/ Letter from Dakar (2019, doc), Missing Time (2019), South (2020), and Surviving You, Always (2021).