"What popular culture do we most consume, and what does it say about us?" Hetain Patel
Visual artist and performance maker Hetain Patel has been working closely with third-year students to create a new work for Graduation 2018. Titled ’10 Things I Hate About Dick’, the work playfully examines individual and collective identity through a popular culture lens.
As a British-born person of Indian heritage, Hetain is particularly interested in what makes people who they are, culturally and socially. His work often attempts to transform or subvert cultural ideas and challenge perceptions.
In 2014 he was commissioned by Candoco Dance Company to create ‘Let’s Talk About Dis‘, a powerful performance piece that sought to challenge misconceptions surrounding non-disabled and disabled dancers.
In 2013, Hetain performed at the TED Global Conference and posed the question ‘How do we decide who we are?’ In this surprising performance, Hetain plays with identity, language, and accent – challenging viewers to think beyond appearances.
Hetain’s new work created in collaboration with NSCD third year students is titled ’10 Things I Hate About Dick’. In his own words Hetain describes the piece as “a snapshot of the identities of the dancers, as individuals, as a group, as a generation, all through the popular culture lenses of film, TV and YouTube.”
