PostHuman
Performance-art exhibition film for Rachel Gadsden
PostHuman is live art and sound performance devised and created by artist Rachel Gadsden, in collaboration with composer Freddie Meyers. Emerging from Rachel’s own experiences, including a medically imposed Do Not Resuscitate order (DNR) during covid, the performance explores ideas around chronic illness and disability, taking the audience on a journey of challenge, empowerment and agency of the body, and how the ongoing legacy of the pseudoscience of eugenics still continues to impact medical decision-making.
This was a beautifully collaborative process of capturing Rachel’s incredible work, with a creative team of dreams;
Devised and Created by
Visual and Performance Artist - Rachel Gadsden
Composer and Performer - Freddie Meyers
Director - Jamie Hale
Production team - Tim Hayton and Luke Rogers
Additional voices - Luke Rogers, Freddie Meyers, Rachel Gadsden, Valeriy Sokolov, Jamie Hale and Miss Jacqui
Additional camera - Adrian White
The piece is a development of work originally created with CRIPtic Arts, and forms part of Rachel’s PhD research at Loughborough University. This iteration was created as part of UCL’s Words Matter programme, a knowledge exchange programme, exploring UCL’s historic role in promoting the pseudoscience of eugenics, part of UCL’s Prejudice in Power programme. The public art approach explores how arts-based methods can better include the voices and lived experience of those still marginalised by the legacy of eugenics thinking, opening up the discussion to a wider audience. Convened by the UCL Cultural and Community Engagement teams alongside UCL Public Art, and partnering with four specialist artist organisations: Brownton Abbey, CRIPtic Arts, The New Black Film Collective and UD Music.
The film sits as part of the Words Matter exhibition, open at UCL East’s First Floor Galleries from 20 November 2025 - 25 February 2026
With thanks to Briony Fleming and Sam Wilkinson at UCL Cultural and Community Engagement team, and the wider team for their support.