'Seeking Roots' Exhibition, OUTCOME 2023 Project with Backlit Gallery, Nottingham
OUTCOME 2023 was a collaborative project, led by Curator Jazz Swali and Assistant Curator Marta Marsicka. This project spanned over 6 months of workshops with local established curators, artist collectives and galleries, as well as team building sessions with the group of 14 students building the project. We had fortnightly group meetings with Jazz and Marta, beginning with getting to know eahc other and sharing initial ideas, to learning about event planning/ exhibition coordination, to building our artworks and finalising show details such as marketing, handling materials, the opening etc. The project aimed to bring together our group, and allow us to skill share and work towards the final show, where we showcased our collaborative artworks and everything we had learned.
Collaborative photography adorns the left wall as you walked into exhibition aside our with our exhibition poster. The photographs were taken by 8 of us in the group, and curated as a team during the installation of the show.
In the centre of the room, a huge sculpture made from recycled materials, reaches across the space. This sculpture was built across 2 days, with 10 of the group collaborating here. We collated our materials and worked from a central focal point. The themes of the exhibition focus on ecology, environmental awareness, and a deepening human connection to nature, particularly trees. This sculpture directly comments on our physical relationship to trees, and how we can become more aware of our environmental footprints.
On the far right side of the space, we have two screens, playing two 3 minute sister films, heard through headphones, and we invited viewers to sit and watch. To create this work, we went to the local park and interviewed passers-by with 3 core questions, and gathered this collective conversation on film. A true look into an emotive, raw response to the environmental crisis.
Finally, we curated a 'Conversation Space': something that became clear very early on, was the need to hold space for our emotions and feelings towards environmental issues such as climate change, habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity. We invited viewers to ignite these conversations, or sit and contemplate, here, in the exhibition. An array of re-purposed furniture circles together to create the conversation zone. A blank canvas is hung on the wall, with small dot stickers on the table, each colour (red, blue, yellow, green) assigned to the emotions of anxiety, sadness, hope, peace; viewers could attach their own emotion to this canvas, creating a piece that represented the collective thought. Many thanks to Midlands artist John Newling, who kindly shared his thoughts on these matters, and sent us an essay he had written, which we displayed in this space, to add to the discussion.
Please flick through the slideshow below to view the photographs of the show:
Photography by BACKLIT
NTU Fine Art Graduate Degree Showcase 29 May - 2 June 2023
We titled the degree showcase 'Synergy', which means "the combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately". This theme resonated across the year group, entangling previously detached interests and polar techniques, to create a show that spoke of oneness and the holistic nature of our course. We curated the show as a cohort alongside the guidance of our tutors, but being hands on with the curation and build of the show allowed it to be completely organic. My paintings (left to right) 'Oasis', 'Earth's Offering at the Sky's Edge' and 'Solar Awakening', were on display for the showcase. Each telling their own story, yet embodying the connection between nature and humans, as ONE. The unity between these paintings brought each other to life, encapsulating my vision as an artist.
All photography by me.
'MIMESIS' Group Exhibition at Surface Gallery, Nottingham, 7-11 March 2023
'Mimesis' was a collaborative effort between myself and 3 other artists Luke Narroway, Ellie Miles and Alice Spearing. We came together and took over the Main Gallery space of Surface Gallery, Nottingham for a week. Our exhibition responded to the wider conversation of our evolving relationship to others and the planet within this modern era, exploring our purpose and active responsibility as emerging artists. We curated the exhibition between us, and you can see below a slideshow of the set up process, something that became integral to our overall experience. It responded to the festival theme of 'Inside, Outside, Together, Apart'.
All photography by me, except the group photo of all 4 artists, in which I am included.
'EQUILIBRIUM EVOLVING: BECOMING ONE WITH NATURE', Solo Exhibtion at Twitchel Gallery, Nottingham, 6-13 February 2023
This solo show was created, curated and installed by myself for Twitchel Gallery, part of our NTU Fine Art building. Below are images of all the works I had in this show, which was all the paintings I had created up to that point in time, in the final year of my degree. This included 'Equilibrium', 'Here We Are', 'Equilibrium Evolving - Mini Series' and 'The Forest Awakens', displayed clockwise in order of completion.
'FOR ALL MAN KIND' Group Exhibition part of the Staging Projects at NTU, 9-12 January 2023 Curated by me
As part of our staging development projects at NTU Fine Art, we were tasked with setting up a group exhibition in our tutor groups. We selected work straight from everyone's studio spaces and I volunteered to be the Curator for this mini show. One of my paintings from the 'Equilibrium Evolving - Mini Series' was part of the show, alongside the work of 5 other artists.
All photography of Twitchel Gallery and Group Exhibition by me