Dorrell Merritt is a London-based visual artist, writer and publisher.
As a visual artist, his practice spans photography, moving-image, graphic design, wheatpasting and text. Themes such as nature, sexuality, voyeurism, identity, cynicism and the uncanny regularly manifest within and across his work.
As a writer, he publishes and works across interviews, reviews, essays, poems and short-fiction. He is an editorial contributor to European photography magazine, Photomonitor, and has also been published by the likes of Hunger Magazine, Lampoon Magazine, Berlin Art Link, Sang Bleu Magazine, Paper Journal, Twin Magazine, BKN Magazine, Dazed Digital and more. He has self-published a number of poetry collections both digitally and physically and is currently in the process of working on his debut short-fiction collection.
Additionally, he creates contemporary artefacts and printed matter by way of personal imprints SEED Atelier and SEED Editions. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of photographic conversation series, SEED Monograph and tattoo conversation series, Quo Vadis.
Projects
- 'Back Against The Wall' (2023)Back, Against The Wall is a public, ephemeral, solo exhibition of images by Dorrell Merritt, taking place in Shoreditch, East London, from the 11th of June, until an undetermined date. The title, steeped in apathy and cynicism, channels the perils and pitfalls of being an artist with a practice over a decade old, yet remaining reliant on day-jobs, simultaneously making reference to the physical act of wheatpasting within London’s streets, finding oneself again in positions of both pressure and
- 'Champagne For Breakfast' (Meyhem Lauren x DJ Muggs x Madlib)— Album Review (2023).A snap review of Queens, New York native rapper, Meyhem Lauren's collaborative album with hip-hop veteran producers, DJ Muggs and Madlib, Champagne For Breakfast. After pitching this review unsuccessfully to Pitchfork, I didn't want it to be wasted, so here it is. All in all, it's around an hour of work, and new territory for me, but I might work on some others in the near future. You can listen to the album here, and buy it here.
- 'Lithos'— Dorrell Merritt x Raphael Kadid (2023)'Transposed consciousness and memories, yawning, sombre as thunder; droves of drones and stony sentinels, meticulous and limber'. Lithos (2023) is a collaborative project between Swiss-french designer and architect Raphael Kadid, and London-based visual artist and writer, Dorrell Merritt, exploring the trifecta of science-fiction, literature and design. Using the shadowy form of Kadid’s editioned lamp Oblago (2021) as the focal point for the poster-based collaboration, alongside an excerpt fro
- 'Moriyama at Hamiltons'— Poetry Collection (2022).Moriyama at Hamiltons, is my fourth physical poetry collection to date. Composed over the course of ten months, Moriyama at Hamiltons explores what it means to live in the shadow of a global event; inspired by travel, swayed by pessimism, grounded by nostalgia, softened by the imagination and empowered by a desire to push onward, regardless. Experimenting further with approaches rooted in the conceptual, building on a life-long affinity with nature and relaying stories of tragedy, desire and is
- 'Near Death Experience', Georgia Gardner Gray— Exhibition Review.An excerpt from my review of Georgia Gardner Gray's exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ. Undoubtedly, the work of Gardner Gray is like simultaneously experiencing a story from Vermillion Sands and a painting by Vermeer at the same time; worlds collide, erode and are inverted, in content and aesthetic, with a brooding, sometimes disturbing cynicism, that's nonetheless captivating. The full exhibition review can be read here: dorrellmerritt.co.uk/Georgia-Gardner-Gray-Near-Death-Experience Exhibition l
- Dorrell Merritt— Selected Poems, Part II (2022).Ahead of my fourth collection of poems, 'Moriyama at Hamiltons', coming November 2022, here is an edit of poems composed so far this year. More of my works can be viewed here: https://dorrellmerritt.co.uk/Dorrell-Merritt-Selected-Poems Image: 'Ferry', 2021, Dorrell Merritt
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Work history
Creative Direction, Art Direction & Graphic DesignSEED Atelier
London, United KingdomPart Time
In 2019 I created SEED Atelier as an outlet for my personal projects, concerning creative direction, art direction and graphic design, and the ways in which they can manifest by way of contemporary, visual art, ephemera and unique objects.
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Arts WriterVarious
London, United KingdomFreelance
I have worked as an arts writer, conducting interviews, reviews and essays for a number of independent publications online and in print such as as Berlin Art Link, Paper Journal, Twin Magazine, BKN Magazine, Dazed Digital and more. I am currently a contributor to photography magazine, Photomonitor.
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Skills
- Adobe Indesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Copywriting Editorial
- Arts Writing
- Photography
- 120 Film
- Poetry
- Visual Art