Matt Henry

Murder a Go-Go

 

Somewhere in the mutinous haze of 1960’s America, a glamorous band of dancing militants dubbed the ‘Go-Go Gang’ is hard at work seducing and murdering chemical company executives in the name of environmental justice. This is Murder a Go-Go; a 16-image fictional series that I hoped would twin the sexualised and homicidal flavours of 1960’s explotation cinema with the rapidly emerging social movements of the time. 

Murder a Go-Go opens with a newspaper article about a Californian kidnapping and ends with a blood-soaked activist leaving a copy of Silent Spring at the scene. Rachel Carson took on the agrochemical industry in 1962 with this environmental science book and her work galvanised a generation of environmentalists and female scientists. It is just such a great seed on which to build a narrative.

I work exclusively in fiction though I do draw on elements of political and cultural history. This fictionalised story of environmental radicalism remains in keeping with the sensationalism of the exploitation genre. Many of these films explored the countercultural and left-wing movements that Hollywood glossed over and were also uncharacteristically progressive in using tough female leads. It felt natural to me to draw on these elements of Sixties visual culture.

 

 

 

Bio

Matt Henry (b. 1978) grew up in North Wales and is now based in Brighton, England. His practice focuses on the politics and culture of America during the 1960s and early 1970s. The works take the form of fictional scenes staged as set-builds and dressed locations in the UK and USA. Each project is storyboarded and typically features a cast of actors styled and directed by the artist. 

He is represented by Polka Galerie and his work has been exhibited in Europe, Asia and North America.

 

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Matt Henry