Hetain Patel: Come As You Really Are
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art
Saturday 26th March - Saturday 5th July 2025
From makers and modifiers to crafters and collectors, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, alongside award-winning artist and Spider-Man enthusiast Hetain Patel and Artangel present Come As You Really Are.
Beginning as a nationwide call-out inviting members of the public to share the creative activity they dedicate their spare time to, Come As You Really Are features hundreds of unique hand-crafted objects and collections submitted from across the North East of England standing shoulder to shoulder with existing artworks and a new film commission by Patel.
Come As You Really Are showcases a variety of hobbies that demonstrates an individual’s freedom of expression and ingenuity, and in doing so broadens our perception of who gets to be called creative and where the impulse to create stems from.
Hetain Patel is a London based artist and filmmaker. His films, sculptures, live performances, paintings and photographs have been shown worldwide in galleries, theatres, and on iconic public screens including Piccadilly Circus, London and Times Square, New York. His works have been presented at the Venice Biennale, Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing and Tate Modern, London to Sadler’s Wells, where he is a New Wave Associate.
Patel’s work exploring identity and freedom, using choreography, text and popular culture appears in multiple formats and media, intended to reach the widest possible audience. His video and performance work online have been watched over 50 million times, which includes his TED talk of 2013 titled, Who Am I? Think Again.
Patel’s works are in public and private collections in the UK and internationally, including Tate, British Council, Arts Council England, Government Art Collection, Manchester Art Gallery, M+ Museum Hong Kong, KNMA New Delhi, and Fondazione In Between Art Film, Rome. Patel is represented by Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, is a supported artist at Copperfield, London.
Photos: Colin Davison