11 Feb – 3 Jun 2023

We Are Floating in Space was a group exhibition of artists who have made work in Cornwall and Devon, using ideas of the coast, or the materials of the shoreline, to create their work.

I was invited to share works from the ongoing ‘Last Summer’ series, the book ‘Endless Reproduction’ and incredible to make a new participatory work ‘The next dawn, the next spring’, which was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and with the support of Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange.

The call out video for participants for the project was hosted in the exhibition space while the final work was made, through workshops, site visits and informed by shared experiences. The work premiered at a special screening night at Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange.

The exhibition looked beyond the tradition of seascapes to showcase artists who use the coast to address themes within their contemporary art practice. In particular, it’s the space between the tides; the area that is in constant flux between being land and being sea, the overlap, the layering, a constant state of fluidity. It is this otherworldly place that artists have used to express ideas and themes within their work, whether its grieving, gender identity, the queer body, childlessness not by choice, looking for one’s tribe, and is illustrative of environmental concerns.

The exhibition also included artists who have used and transformed the materials of the coastline for their work; an oak stool from the submerged ancient woodland of Mount’s Bay, a silver spoon cast from a rock pool, sculptural hybrids, and chemigrams soaked in seawater, amongst others.

The lower gallery at Newlyn hosted an exhibition-within-the-exhibition, curated by Fran Rowse, expanding on her Maids project and featuring other young female artists who explore the lived experiences of growing up in small coastal towns.

The twenty plus artists in the main exhibition included Delphi Baker, Simon Bayliss, Livvy Eden, Naomi Frears, Bryony Gillard, Christopher P Green, Anna Harris, Kitty Hillier, Fleur & Alastair Mackie, Rhys Morgan, Teän Roberts, Ro Robertson, Tanoa Sasraku, SHARP, Melanie Stidolph, Tom Stockley, Mary Trapp, Eleanor Turnbull, Huhtamaki Wab.

We Are Floating in Space was curated by Blair Todd, Programme Curator.