Don't Look at the Finger

Hetain Patel

Exhibition

Hetain Patel

Event overview

This January, Don't Look at the Finger by Hetain Patel has its first Tate staging after entering the Tate Collection.

One of kung fu master Bruce Lee’s most celebrated sayings, voiced in a key scene in his magnum opus Enter the Dragon, warns us never to be distracted by a finger that is pointing at something lest we miss what it is pointing at. This maxim seems especially relevant to the art of Hetain Patel, which frequently beckons us in one direction, only to reveal, after a series of feints and swerves, that its real substance lies elsewhere. In Don't Look at the Finger, two protagonists and a small coterie of companions, all dressed in vibrantly patterned West African robes, gather in a church for a wedding ceremony. Perhaps, judging by the nervous glances traded by the couple, for an arranged marriage. The proceedings are conducted in sign language – each gesture, extravagant or small, possessing an intimacy and tactility that seems to both presage and magnify the union that is about to take place.

Don't Look at the Finger (2017) by Hetain Patel was commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella with Manchester Art Gallery and QUAD. Supported by Arts Council England. Initial research supported by Jerwood Choreographic Research Project.

Event details

Details

28 January 2023 – 1 May 2023

Tate St Ives

Opening Times
Tuesday to Sunday 10.00–16.20

Admission Fees
Admission: £10.50
Free entry for children
Disabled admission: £9.50
Free entry for disabled companions/PAs
Over 60: £9.50
Student: £9.50
Universal or Pension Credit: £5

Further discounts available

More information & how to book

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