Exhibitions

It has been 10 years since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, that has seen more than 500,000 people killed or missing and an estimated 6.6 million Syrians forced to flee their countries and homes. Within the UK, we have seen many new headlines about refuges, their plight and their changed lives. However, what happens after displacement to those who are resettled and forced to rebuild their lives? ‘In Which Language Do We Dream?’ offers the perspective of a Syrian family, the al-Hindawi family, about their first-hand experiences of displacement, integration and home, as it challenges our perception of refugees to counter the negative views held within politics, the media, and our society.

Making Solid: Unpredictable Bodies explores what an unpredictable body is and how a disabled body’s presence transgresses societal restrictions. The project investigates how movement can be made solid, and Metz is interested in the relationship between sculpture, mark-making and stimming. The artist uses drawing as a form of stimming, a common process used by autistic and neurodivergent people to self-regulate their emotions using repetitive movements or sounds to manage feelings of being overwhelmed, but importantly, can also express a range of emotions such as joy.

Delusions of Grandeur is a multidisciplinary installation that explores David Parkin’s stay at the NHS after he suffered his first bi-polar manic episode in 2015 and was sectioned for four months. After premiering in 2019 at the Attenborough Arts Centre to an overwhelming public response, it quickly became the art centre’s most well attended artwork and was scheduled to be shown in London.

Bruce McLean’s garden paintings are inspired by the beautiful, vibrant garden his wife Rosy has created at the couple’s home on the Spanish island of Menorca. The works showcase McLean’s virtuoso technique and dazzling use of colour – hot pinks, cobalt blues, and deep oranges vivid against a dark background. Monumental in scale the paintings hover somewhere between reality and abstraction with hints of pathways, ponds, flowers, and shrubs.

For McLean the Black Garden paintings are a response to the garden as a physical space, exploring aspects of light and shadow; they are paintings made by a sculptor.