5 exhibitions I regret missing
Sometimes I find myself thinking about exhibitions I’ve missed that I reaallyyy wanted to see. What got in the way? Whether it be due to time, money or travel restrictions, I vow that I never have to make a post like this again.
(feel free to comment your thoughts if you’ve seen any of these)
And then, a harrowing
By Linda Stupart, Carl Gent and Kelechi Anucha.
Wysing Art Centre, Cambridge (15th October – 8th December 2021)
The title of this exhibition has always resonated with me as it has a very ghastly haunting feel to it - not just though the word ‘harrowing’ but through the slightness of the sentence structure and the creepy trepidation caused by the use of punctuation. It’s an exhibition which saw a collision of queer landscapes and bodies, a revealing of histories and voices, and of course an epic installation by Linda Stupart. I would have gone to the opening event of this show in a heartbeat if it didn’t clash with Round Lemon’s debut physical event Bees don’t make Lemonade, and the exhibition ended too quickly for me to get down to Cambridge. Really gutted about missing something that felt so up my street in terms of artistic taste!
Along a Spectrum: Veronica Ryan
Spike Island, Bristol (9th May – 5th September 2021)
When I heard Veronica Ryan was nominated for the 2022 Turner Prize, I was beyond thrilled. Her evocative exploration of materiality through transitional objects is something that I’m really drawn to formally, reminding me of the likes of Hesse and Szapocznikow’s work. I found out about her exhibition at Spike Island too late, but I’m really looking forward to seeing what she displays for the Turner Prize at Tate Liverpool later this year.
Rebecca Louise Law: Seasons
Compton Verney, Warwickshire (18th May – 30th August 2021)
Weaving nature through space, Louise Law uses flowers as material and space as a canvas to spotlight the value of nature. Reframing a focus on ecology, the artist reuses her 15-year collection of over 1 million flowers to create large-scale spellbinding installations. They encompass an immersive sense of both fragility and power, and are wired by local communities, reinforcing a shared sense of ownership and community labour. The natural integrity of the work looks like no other work I’ve encountered before, and I will be the first to jump at Rebecca’s next UK exhibition (of course, dragging my plant obsessed mother in tow).
Jesse Darling: No Medals No Ribbons
Modern Art Oxford (5th March – 1st May 2022)
Darling described this show on their Instagram as a ‘once in a lifetime thing’, however this was yet another show I found out about too late. The exhibition was a culmination of 10 years-worth of work, including an impressive winding steel rollercoaster installation as well as other queer assemblages of everyday objects. Jesse manipulates materials to remind us of the worlds temporality, vulnerability, precarity, and an overwhelming sense of mortality across bodies and structures of power. Jesse’s explorative material and formal play would have blown me away.
A Visible Thread Research Residency
The Edge & Andrew Brownsword Gallery, Bath (March 25th – April 23rd 2022)
Blurring the lines between exhibition and residency, SEAM Collective provided visitors the ‘permission to play’ with material in their residency space. Using stashes of textiles from the artists and charity shops to subvert, pull, unravel, twist and manipulate thread, this looked like the most curiously fun thing ever. If this was in Birmingham, SEAM probably wouldn’t have got rid of me. On a side note: How incredible would this be if more spaces invited this kind of atmosphere and space where we were all invited to play with material?
