UPDATE: Site Gallery is currently closed and plans to reopen after lockdown in December.

For most, the creative potential of a knee ligament rupture sustained whilst playing sport is a “I’m feeling sorry for myself” monologue on Instagram stories. But for Welsh artist Phoebe Davies, it was the inspiration for her first solo exhibition currently on display at Site Gallery. Points of Rupture dives into the world of competitive sport, laying bare the physical and mental strength necessary to thrive and – fundamentally – to win.

Site Gallery, which always seems to arise anew every time an exhibition turns over, has been transformed into a sports hall. A childhood of PE memories come flooding back as shoes squeak on the bouncy floor, bright white lights flicker above, and a giant gym mat invites us to throw ourselves down and start stretching.

This is no bog-standard gymnasium though, Davies' thick court lines dance off into circles, arrows and rows of stripes. Bold yellows, blues and greens divide and collide, creating a patchwork of shapes that inspire movement. The markings make it seem as if a sports team has just finished pounding the floor and every move made has been captured in this installation. Occasionally, spotlights focus on certain areas as if to define an arena for competition.

We can even hear these spectral athletes in Davies’ sound work Spiral Rides and Involuntary Peaks. Their grunting and breathing, bouncing of balls and thunder of feet rush around the room from speaker to speaker. At times, the noise is almost deafening as the full force of their sporting energy pounds at our chests and eardrums. The work samples real recordings collected in gyms, hospitals, domestic spaces and archives over Davies’ two years of recovery. The cycle of sounds touches on every aspect of training from breathless exhaustion to ferocious competition.

Suddenly the lights flicker off, they pop and crackle as the lights turn on in a different sports hall in a film work that appears on the back wall. Shot on the outskirts of Oslo, the Sprawl follows a team of young female wrestlers as they go about their day-to-day training routine. The camera often stays still as hands, hips, limbs and legs move in and out of shot and the girls push themselves to the limit. Narration from the coaches and athletes explores the psychological toll of competing. The girls express their fears and frustrations, with tears shed over disappointing matches. Someone says thoughtfully: “you win alone, you lose alone”.

As the film closes, the sound work begins again and we return from Oslo to the present day where we start to consider our own physicality in this giant sports hall. Following the disparate circles and lines round the room, we fall into a meditative flow not too dissimilar to the athletes on screen. Points of Rupture might be recordings of others exercising but its immersive and immediate elements invite us to get up off the side-lines and participate.

• Words by
• Hannah Clugston