IMPACTArdawiad
a-n member Angharad Pearce Jones’ largest solo show to date explores division through sculptural works and an installation that literally separates its audience.
Made from steel security fences that evoke industrial estates, prisons and borders, the large-scale installation has two entrances, and once inside, visitors will find themselves on one side or the other of a three-metre high fence, and able to see people on the other side.
Jones, who has worked in steel for over 30 years as a blacksmith, metal fabricator and artist, also presents a series of sculptures that reproduce scenes of impact – where vehicles have crashed into fences, leaving them twisted and distorted. The artist has documented these ‘incidental artworks’ over several years, presenting them back in brightly coloured steel, to invite viewers to consider such sites of destruction more closely.
Until 11 February 2024, Aberystwyth Arts Centre aberystwythartscentre.co.uk
Touch Wood
Displaying his trademark wit and playfulness, a-n member Jonathan Baldock presents a new solo exhibition infused with ritual, myth and folklore.
Inspired by medieval carvings in Wakefield Cathedral, Baldock’s large-scale textile works, ceramics and a soundscape make reference to nature, mythical beasts and architecture, through a contemporary, queer lens.
The theatrical installation features a cast of characters including a phoenix, a Green Man, and a humorous ‘tumbler’ who bends at the waist to look backwards through his legs whilst exposing his buttocks – the kind of bawdy imagery that was common in medieval times, even within churches.
Until 7 July 2024, Yorkshire Sculpture Park ysp.org.uk
Epiphany (Temporaire)
Midlands-based Artists Council member Exodus Crooks’ solo exhibition considers layers of history, heritage and culture through domestic and familiar objects.
Reflecting the artist’s concerns with how memories and traditions are inherited, stored and transferred through time and shared space, ‘Epiphany (Temporaire)’ includes installation, film works, mixed media and archival materials.
A message from my ancestors features a wooden wardrobe from the artist’s childhood home, carved with words from a poem that they received during a visit to their ancestral land.
Film work Leti’guh reflects on processes of ‘gathering, having, holding and letting go of ideas’, while the wall-based objects of Y: the symbol of man considers western discourses on gender.
9 February – 21 April 2024, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham ikon-gallery.org
Making Up
This solo exhibition by Bristol-based a-n Artist member Jo Lathwood and curated by Manchester-based a-n Arts Organiser member Zoe Watson includes a large-scale interactive installation that will grow in real-time as it is constructed inside the gallery space.
Continuing Lathwood’s long-term interest in journeys and movement, Making Up is inspired by the ‘higgledy-piggledy landscapes of railways, roads, and canals stacked one upon another’ in Salford and Manchester.
During the opening days of the exhibition, Lathwood will begin building a raised boardwalk from recycled timber, and later will invite visitors to walk along it. Concerned with circular systems and the environmental impact of her practice, the building materials for ‘Making Up’ are all reused or recycled and will be repurposed and distributed during the final days of the exhibition, leaving no trace and minimal waste.
Until 3 March 2024, The Lowry, Salford thelowry.com
Betwixt
Four themed exhibitions across four distinctive cultural spaces in London celebrate the emerging practices of artists from Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Sheffield. Among the 20 artists taking part are a-n members Kedisha Coakley, Phoebe Davies, Susan Hughes, Maria de Lima, Kirsty Russell and Rian Treanor.
Freelands Foundation hosts inching towards, showcasing research-based practices that engage with information, translation and archive. beneath takes places in The Crypt Gallery at St. Pancras Church, where the artworks ‘embrace the unknown as sites of resistance’ and imagine alternative futures.
In Fitzrovia Chapel, beyond explores the ways in which music, folklore and sublime experiences in nature intersect with material histories of colonial violence and collective healing. Finally, Mimosa House hosts held, an exploration of matrilineal memory and domestic or emotional interiors.
17 February – 23 February 2024, Freelands Foundation, The Crypt Gallery, Fitzrovia Chapel and Mimosa House, London freelandsfoundation.co.uk
gludafael / holdfast
Among the eight artists in this group exhibition, which considers the ways in which art can respond to the climate emergency, are a-n members Kathryn Ashill, Angela Davies and Fern Thomas.
Davies’ film Aequus draws on future plans for a 19-mile tidal lagoon in North Wales and considers the history of lido pools in Wales: many were built by the miner’s welfare fund, and Aequus reflects this interwoven history with those of extraction and energy production.
Water also frames Thomas’ work, which takes the image of Aquarius, the ‘water bearer’, as constellation and astrological sign, as its starting point to consider the need for new guiding images in the face of climate collapse.
Meanwhile Ashill’s new folk song takes the historical trade of ‘rag and bone’ men as a precursor to modern-day recycling, to raise questions about class, blame and whose voice is heard in the chorus of people working in climate justice.
Until 10 March 2024, Glynn Vivian, Swansea glynnvivian.co.uk
Top image: Angela Davies, still from film Aequus, 2022
