words Alexa Wang
Many Ghosts, Many Shells brings together artists who use games to explore memory, identity, and the stories we tell about ourselves. Sharing ideas across cultures, generations, and creative styles, the exhibition presents richer, more inclusive ways of imagining the world.
In their collaborative game Our Ghosts, Our Shells (Part 1), David Blandy and Petra Szemán build a pixelated world filled with references to childhood games, anime, and digital nostalgia. Their storytelling invites players to explore alternative futures through layered narratives and immersive play.
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s work uncovers hidden histories of violence through personal stories and oral testimony, asking difficult questions about responsibility and care. Meanwhile, John Powell-Jones’ animated game Web Wide World introduces us to the surreal universe of Durt, where the main character wakes up without their protective skin. Players meet strange creatures and navigate a world shaped by myth, sci-fi, and transformation.
Together, these works use gaming not just for entertainment, but as a powerful way to question systems of power, identity, and how we experience the world—both online and off.
David Blandy
David Blandy creates videos, games, sound works and installations that explore identity, history, ecology, and the power structures shaping our world. Drawing from archives, pop culture, science, and digital spaces, he builds poetic, immersive stories that imagine futures based on connection and care.
davidblandy.co.uk
Petra Szemán
Petra Szemán is a moving image artist working with animation and game-inspired worlds. Their work blends real and fictional spaces, using a digital version of themselves to explore identity, memory, and queer futures in a landscape shaped by online culture.
petraszeman.com
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley is a Berlin and London-based artist working in animation, performance, sound, and video games. Their work archives and centres Black Trans experiences, mixing lived reality with fiction to challenge how histories are told and who gets remembered.
daniellebrathwaiteshirley.com
John Powell-Jones
John Powell-Jones is an artist who creates animations, comic books, sculptures, and large-scale figures. Drawing on horror, science fiction, and folklore, he builds strange, playful worlds filled with surreal characters and dark humour.
johnpowell-jones.co.uk
Rebecca Edwards
Rebecca Edwards is a curator, writer and producer based in London. Her work focuses on experimental approaches to curating, and explores how digital culture, internet aesthetics, and new technologies shape art today.
rebeccaedwards.xyz
Many Ghosts, Many Shells
David Blandy & Petra Szemán; Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley; John Powell-Jones
Curated by Rebecca Edwards
1–31 May 2025
Seventeen
270-276 Kingsland Road
Entrance on Acton Mews
London
E8 4DG
