Georgina Starr (b. 1968, Leeds) is a British artist whose multidisciplinary practice first gained international recognition in the 1990s as part of the wave of artists associated with the so-called Young British Artists (YBAs). From the outset, Starr set herself apart with emotionally charged, introspective, and meticulously crafted installations that weave together video, sound, sculpture, drawing, photography, text, and live performance. Her work explores themes such as identity, the female voice and body, memory, the unconscious, and the intermingling of history and fiction—often unfolding through elaborate, surreal narratives that hover between the theatrical and the uncanny.

Central to Starr’s practice is a sustained exploration of persona and performance. She frequently creates fictional alter egos or characters through whom she stages complex psychological worlds, blurring the boundaries between biography, mythology, and invention. Her work is rich with references to occult symbolism, esoteric knowledge, and cinematic language, forming what critics have called “magically complex works that challenge the viewer to re-examine the self, the unconscious and its ever-morphing biographies through a glittering and melancholic theatre of memory, mythology and fiction.”

In So Long Babe (1997), Starr pilots a handcrafted, single-seater wooden plane across the London skyline, accompanied by Nancy Sinatra’s defiant 1960s anthem of the same name. The four-minute, single-channel video blends whimsical artifice with cinematic style, as Starr—dressed in vintage flight gear—navigates surreal, constructed backdrops that blur the line between fantasy and reality. Part of her Starvision series, the work translates personal mythologies and comic-book fantasies into sculptural and performative form. Like Drivin’ On and Tuberama, it reimagines the artist as both protagonist and pop-cultural construct—at once heroic, humorous, and disarmingly vulnerable.

Click here to visit the artists website.

The video is infused with a dreamy, retro-futurist aesthetic. Its lo-fi effects and handmade props give it a sense of childlike sincerity, while Sinatra’s familiar twang introduces a bittersweet emotional undercurrent. Starr’s flight becomes a playful yet melancholic journey—less a triumphant escape than a wistful farewell. It’s a fantasy of flight, a humorous challenge to constraint, and a celebration of the artist as aviator, dreamer, and author of her own mythology.

Over the past three decades, Starr’s work has been exhibited widely across the UK and internationally, reflecting her critical acclaim and the broad appeal of her immersive, narrative-driven art. Her work has featured in major institutional exhibitions at Tate Britain, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Kunsthalle Zürich, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, the Venice Biennale, and Glasgow International, among many others. Across these contexts, she has developed new site-specific installations and performances that expand her investigation of voice, presence, and the fragmented nature of subjectivity.

In recent years, Starr has further extended her practice into film and live performance. In 2019, she was commissioned to create Moment Memory Monument, a haunting large-scale performance presented at Palazzo Reale in Milan. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, spiritualist traditions, and classical sculpture, the work explored the ephemeral nature of memory and embodiment. In 2021, a major survey of her practice, Hello. Come here. I want you., was presented at Frac Franche-Comté in Besançon, France, offering a rare opportunity to trace the evolution of her work—from early film experiments to recent immersive environments. That same year, she presented Androgynous Egg, a ritualistic, surreal performance commissioned by Frieze Projects. Combining live choreography, sound, and symbolic props, the piece explored themes of rebirth, gender fluidity, and transformation.

Starr’s most recent work, Quarantaine (43 minutes, 2023), is a major film commission produced by Film & Video Umbrella in partnership with The Hunterian, and supported by Art Fund’s Moving Image Fund. The film explores the psychic dimensions of isolation, imagination, and feminine resistance, drawing on a rich tapestry of references—from science fiction to spiritualism—while continuing Starr’s commitment to constructing dreamlike, emotionally resonant spaces where narrative, memory, and identity converge and dissolve.

So Long Babe is part of UK/NY, a touring programme curated by Film and Video Umbrella and funded by Arts Council England.