Tea Houses, exhibition programme
Everything Flowing by Sinéad Fahey
Thursday 8 – Sunday 18 August 2024
Everything Flowing is an exhibition by artist Sinéad Fahey. Works have been selected from her expansive art practice in response to the site of the Tea Houses, acknowledging the River Nore and the habitat of the area. Sinéad passionately captures our entangled connection with the natural world. Several paintings and works on paper burst with gatherings of fish, birds and flowers, conveying a palpable flow of energy and togetherness. Sinéad talks about these ecological groupings as having the power “to give strength”, recognising our indisputable dependence in the fine-balanced ecosystem we inhabit. When people are depicted in these compositions, they are shown tending to plants, watering flowers, and demonstrating acts of care to our botanical companions. In other scenes people are placed in relation to their surroundings, establishing a non-anthropogenic position or priority.
Everything Flowing reminds us of our place in the world, among multiple species and complex systems, emphasising a respect and appreciation for symbiotic relations with nature.
→ Exhibition Handout
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Toil and Moil by Emma Swan including Celebrate People’s History Project
Friday 20 September – Saturday 26 October 2024
Toil and Moil is a solo exhibition by artist Emma Swan and includes a showcase of the Celebrate People’s History poster series, a project initiated by Josh MacPhee.
Toil and Moil is an exhibition featuring painting, sculpture and sound, exploring the significance of time and labour in the work environment. Swan investigates how the introduction of the Henry Ford assembly line revolutionised manufacturing, industry, and society by accelerating productivity. By looking at the repetitive and monotonous nature of industrialised labour, Swan references these practices to protest against the regimented structure of the working day, highlighting the limitations imposed and its prevailing influence.
This exhibition prompts a conversation about labour and workers’ conditions, while facilitating an opportunity to platform strike action and global protest. The Celebrate People’s History poster series demonstrates a DIY tradition that centralises principles of democracy, inclusion and collective action. The project has been organised and curated by Josh MacPhee since 1998, he is a founding member of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and Interference Archive, a public collection of cultural materials produced by social movements based in Brooklyn, NY. Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative is a decentralised network of 41 artists from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, committed to social, environmental and political engagement. The collection is kindly borrowed from artist and organiser Kate O’Shea.
→ Exhibition Handout
Design by Emmet Brown.
→ Online Talk with Josh MacPhee
