I will use the bursary to develop No Signal in the Shadows, a new multi-channel moving image and installation work that explores the emotional and political reality of receiving judgment before a crime has even taken place. Set in a speculative carceral state—where memory, prophecy and state paranoia are indistinguishable—the work reflects on the expanding reach of surveillance, policing, and pre-crime logic in the UK.
The piece will draw from my ongoing interest in insurgent cinema, carceral temporality and storytelling, and will take shape in the form of an exhibition/installation.
A multi-channel film, shot by myself in the UK. I would love to also spend a period of research, development and filming in Darlington, and create the film as a partly site-specific artwork.
A sculptural installation, incorporating fabricated ‘evidence boxes’, architectural fragments, and waiting-room furniture.
A suite of textile prints, referencing redacted documents, ghosted imagery, and bureaucratic seals
A public engagement strand, including screenings and conversations exploring systems of policing and speculative resistance
The Dover Prize will allow me to expand my practice both materially and structurally. I will use the £10,000 bursary to:
Undertake in-depth research into the UK’s carceral architectures, including archival visits and site research, including filming across the North East
Cover production costs for filmmaking, sculptural fabrication, and textile printing
Access studio space and time to experiment with interdisciplinary installation formats
Fund a period of structured mentorship with award-winning artists Rehana Zaman, Michelle Gamaker and Imran Perretta, each of whom have deeply informed my thinking around race, performance, and moving image as resistance
Presenting the work in Darlington holds strong conceptual resonance. As a town shaped by histories of movement, migration, and industrial transition, I’m interested in how Darlington’s spaces—civic buildings, underpasses, train stations—might be reimagined as sites of speculative resistance or pre-criminal judgment.
No Signal in the Shadows will be the most ambitious work I’ve developed to date, marking a major step-change in my practice. The two-year timeframe will give me space to experiment,, and to engage deeply—with place, with people, and with form.
I believe creative practices rooted in care, conversation, and radical imagination can activate new ways of thinking about place. Through performances, screenings, or sonic interventions, I hope to build moments of collective resonance that remain beyond the life of the project.
My practice addresses urgent socio-political themes through moving image, performance, and sound, and I regularly work across diverse exhibition contexts—from institutions to artist-led spaces and public programmes. By aligning my work with the Dover Prize, I hope to contribute to raising the profile of Darlington as a town that supports ambitious, critically engaged, and globally conscious art.
I see the Dover Prize as a vital platform for deeper engagement between artists and communities in the North East, and I’m committed to contributing to Darlington’s cultural landscape by offering inclusive, politically engaged, and poetic interventions that speak to both local and global contexts.
The Dover Prize’s connection to Darlington offers a meaningful opportunity to spotlight the region’s role in supporting bold, contemporary artistic practices. If awarded the prize, I would use the platform to foreground the significance of regional support structures in shaping nationally—and internationally—relevant work.
Through any related press, public engagement, or presentation opportunities that might arise from the prize, I would be committed to highlighting the importance of regional arts funding and championing Darlington as a vital site of cultural investment and creativity.
I am an artist based in South East London. My practice includes moving image, sound, performance, and installation to explore themes of resistance, decoloniality, and radical histories from the margins. Rooted in the poetics of insurgent cinema and folk storytelling, my work is informed by my own lived realities of state violence, as well as caste, class and racial oppression. My practice is guided by a desire to grow into an artist who contributes towards new modes of collective liberation.
Recent achievements: 2023:
– Graduated with distinction with an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. At my MFA Degree show, I was awarded the Almacantar Award.
– Nominated for the CIRCA Prize.
– Selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, at Camden Art Centre, London, and Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool.
2024:
– Selected 14 UK Screening Tour. For this programme, I was nominated by 2023 Jarman Award winner Rehana Zaman.
– British Council Venice Biennale Fellowship.
– Flatland Solo Exhibition Award. I had my first solo institutional exhibition at Flatland Projects, Bexhill-On-Sea, supported by Arts Council England, Rother District Council, Talent Accelerator, and the De La Warr Pavilion.
– FLAMIN (Film London Artists Moving Image Network) Fellowship.
Public Programmes:
– Artist talk: ‘Insurgent Footage’ at Blackpool School of Arts.
– Performance: New Contemporaries Live, at Camden Art Centre
– Event: ‘Melody, Movement And Migrations’ at the Goldsmiths CCA Residents’ Space.
– ‘Elsewhere Blues’, a sonic intervention at the British Pavilion in Venice, in response to John Akomfrah’s work.
My recent work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including Bloomberg New Contemporaries at Camden Art Centre and Grundy Art Gallery, CIRCA Prize screenings in London, Berlin, and Milan, and the Selected 14 Tour across UK venues (CCA Glasgow, Nottingham Contemporary, Fabrica Brighton, John Hansard Gallery Southampton, Falmouth University). In 2024, I was awarded the British Council Venice Biennale Fellowship, and the FLAMIN Fellowship (Facilitated by Film London). I have also exhibited my work internationally, at Khoj in New Delhi, India, and Gallery 8B2 in Islamabad, Pakistan. I recently won the Flatland Solo Exhibition Award, and had my first solo institutional exhibition, ‘Contraband Zindabad’ at Flatland Projects, Bexhill-On-Sea.
I have a Masters in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London – Class of 2023. I graduated with distinction, and received the Almacantar Award for my final year degree show installation.
1. Elephant Trust, 2025 – I was most recently awarded the Elephant Trust Grant, for the development of a film about the time-bending nature of bureaucracy and incarceration.
2. Flamin Fellowship, 2024 – I received the FLAMIN (Film London Artists Moving Image Network) Fellowship, supported by Arts Council England.
3. Flatland Solo Award, 2024 – I was awarded my first institutional solo exhibition, in Bexhill-On-Sea. Supported by Rother District Council, Arts Council England, and Talent Accellerator.
4. British Council Venice Biennale Fellowship, 2024 – I spent a month in Venice, conducting my research at the British Pavilion, culminating in a performance piece as a response to John Akomfrah’s installation for the Venice Biennale. Supported by British Council and Bloomberg New Contemporaries.
5. Bloomberg New Contemporaries, 2023 – I was selected for the prestigious Bloomberg New Contemporaries, with exhibitions at Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool and Camden Art Centre, London.
6. Almacantar Award, 2023 – For my MFA degree show at Goldsmiths, I was awarded the Almacantar Award.
Yes, I am involved in several self-created projects. I founded a sonic arts collective known as Live From Room 9, which has done experimental live performances at the Horse Hospital in London, Alice Black Gallery in London, and Goldsmiths, University of London.
I also co-founded Melody, Movement and Migrations, which is a collaborative project with south-east london based artists, exploring non-traditional modes of doing research.
Yes, in 2024 I was commissioned by Flatland Projects, a public institution based in Bexhill-On-Sea. The institution commissioned me to make Contraband Zindabad, my first solo institutional exhibition. The commission included a 20-minute short film, as well as a 7 meter wide sculptural installation, and textile prints – in an exhibition that ran August to September 2024. This commision also included a short residency, allowing me to stay in St. Leonards-on-sea while I developed the work.
Yes, my work was reviewed in the Hastings Independent Press by writer-curator Fran-Painter Fleming.
Link: https://www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/articles/culture/arts/two-worlds-collide/
Yes, in 2024 I was a part of the British Council Venice Biennale Fellowship, which was a residency that allowed me to spend a month in Venice, conducting research during the Biennale. I am also currently a part of the FLAMIN Fellowship, an artist development programme facilitated by Film London.
Email: harmeetrahal@gmail.com
Address: 23D Merritt Road, Brockley, London, Greater London County, SE4 1DU, GB
Local Authority: London Borough of Lewisham
