Harriet K Morgan: Prisoner

Join us at Gertrude Contemporary on the final weekend of Octopus 24: Ricochet curated by Patrice Sharkey, for a new performance by Harriet K Morgan, devised specially for the exhibition.

Harriet K Morgan uses costume, electronics and vocals to create multifaceted performances representing ideas of control, sexuality and pathways to autonomy and freedom.

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Harriet K Morgan is one of the few internationally-recognised female artists in Industrial Music, she has played many live shows under the moniker Military Position, as well as alter-ego Ego Morte. Military Position is an extreme experimental musical performance project challenging the male-dominated narrative of industrial music through a unique dissection of sexual politics, industrial imagery, mental illness and feminism. Her unique and transfixing sonic world incorporates synthesizers, samplers, percussion, voice and amplified chains, and often uses highly theatrical performance tropes influenced by her work as a professional dominatrix and survivor of over a decade of domestic violence. Initially trained as a visual artist (with a BFA from Victorian College of the Arts, and Graduate Certificate in Art History from University of Melbourne), Morgan has exhibited at TCB, Arthouse, curated for Bus Projects, and directed ARI Joint Hassles, curating various different shows for many years including Decline and State of Decay, and has edited for Un Magazine.

Morgan has performed nationally and internationally since 2011, including feature shows at MONA FOMA (Hobart), Un Magazine Launch (Melbourne), United Forces of Industrial Festival (London), Tasmanian Art Gallery, Gallery Granen (Sundsvall) and Mayhem (Copenhagen). 

In 2010 Morgan was invited to perform at Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid Festival curated by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Morgan has played in countless local bands in various genres, death, black and heavy metal as well as punk, industrial and now pop. Previous albums, each released by international labels, include Anti-Human, Black Noise, A Woman’s Work is Never Done (Trapdoor Tapes), Nothing Lasts Forever (German label A+W) and a retrospective compilation on cult Italian noise label. Recent works include Prisoner (USA label Handmade Birds).

Morgan plays locally and is planning a European and USA tour for 2025 and is currently performing and recording as Military Position, Ego Morte, gothic-pop duo Cloistral Sorrow (Nice Music) with James P Rushford as well as Scopophilia (Old Europa cafe) with USA industrial female act HIMUKAULT. All have releases on labels in the form of albums, cassettes and vinyl.