Somerset House Studios new outdoor commission and G31 installation: Sophia Al-Maria & Lydia Ourahmane: 2125 &The Pits.
Somerset House Studios is pleased to present Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane's new outdoor commission and G31 installation 2125 & The Pits, opening to the public from 25th April 2025.
2125 | Lancaster Place: 25 April 2025 onwards
Researched and developed in residence at Somerset House Studios, Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane’s outdoor Lancaster Place commission, 2125, explores the grey areas of Britain’s narratives that shape our understanding of identity, belonging, and who has the ‘right to remain’. In parallel, their G31 installation, The Pits, is presented throughout the run in G31, located inside the entrance to the building.
The artists have crafted four benches made from reclaimed Portland stone, sourced from the Admiralty Arch – the landmark which links Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. Positioned at the Lancaster Place entrance of Somerset House, the benches create a direct visual link between the two historic sites, reflecting their intertwined histories of power, control, and transformation. More than places of rest, they challenge the narratives embedded in the stone itself—its colonial past, its repurposing, and its permanence against the impermanence of history.
The work’s title references the end of Somerset House’s lease—a future milestone that will surpass the lifetimes of the artists, its residents, and its decision-makers. By inviting visitors to sit, dwell, and take up space without permission, 2125 asks: Who has the right to occupy? For how long? And under what terms?
The Pits | G31: 25 April – 31 August 2025
The Pits is a new installation by resident artists, Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane in G31, which sits in dialogue with their outdoor commission on Lancaster Place, 2125. Building on the themes explored in 2125, it delves into how social narratives in a postcolonial and late capitalist context can impact our emotional and physical well-being. The artists consider the notion of sitting and resting not just as an act of quiet defiance, but as a way of reckoning with the weight of history and its lingering effects on contemporary society.
For five months, Al-Maria and Ourahmane will transform Somerset House Studios’ project space into a black box that shifts and bends—a room designed to welcome unwelcomed feelings, to allow for grieving. The Pits is intended as an unapologetic space that invites us to collectively discuss what happens when we stop performing and sit with the difficult emotions. The installation asks visitors to occupy, alter and modify the arrangement of the space throughout the day. Over the five-month period, The Pits will be activated spontaneously by invited or uninvited guests.
Further Information: What's on | Somerset House
Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA