Review by Dr. Suneel Mehmi
Fern Gillam
Ferngillam.com
Insta: @fern.gillam.art
An examination of sculpture as theatre, this piece was of two figures conversing on a stage. One vertical and dyed with beetroot and made of toy stuffing, another made out of toilet paper and which expanded horizontally like in a rhizomatic way. The theme was social mobility and class. The stage was tiered, perhaps suggesting social stratification. At the same time, the verticality and the horizontality of the figures and this contrast maybe suggested class too. Fern spoke of how her practice aims to be inclusive of working class artists and to inspire them, to give them the motivation to succeed. Al the materials were resourcefully attained and would be reused, so this was a sustainable, ethical and economic artwork.
India Andrews-Eden
Insta: eden_indi
A striking video of a woman dressed as porcelain in blue and white captured our vision. She was moving a table backwards and forwards which seemed to have sexual connotations, whether or not this was a phallic symbol. One exhibition showed a pierced breast volcanically erupting with blood and which was rhymically knifed by a mechanical blade which perhaps alluded to breast surgery and bodily expectations. Blood was in the video and in the doll figures. The exhibition seemed to be about the sexualisation of women’s bodies and the violence done to them because of this, all of which the artist refers to as ‘the monstrous feminine’.
Ishitaa Kermani
@stitchstories_ishitaa
Textile patterns made out of leaves, which are sustainable, environmentally friendly and biodegradable. A real alternative to plastic sequins and the problems that they cause in the world. The designs were intricate and very thoughtfully laid out. The detailing and the colours were a reminder of Indian miniature painting and therefore combined innovation and modern relevance with tradition, in the Indian way which always celebrates our values in an ever-changing world.
Momo Stevens
@threadedbymomo
A beautiful kimono with intricate floral surfaces that combined hand stitching with the machine made to produce an affluence of cherry blossoms. An astonishingly elegant and poetic piece which utilised traditional Japanese methods and therefore also combined tradition with modernity.
Xinge Liu – Re-streaming
@xiagoe_x_x_
Wonderful brush strokes and pink shades combined to make this figurative painting stand out. A wonderful and dynamic piece with an unforgettable aesthetic. Play with different paint forms and gradiations as well as the subtle and accomplished rendering of fabric and costume at the heart of the image.
Cerys Kilmartin – Kin
Insta: ceryskilmartinn
A wonderfully witty and well thought out examination of the ingredients it takes to make a family, in the concrete form of a dining table with menus and place mats.
Ana-Maria Margarit
https:depositsilk.github.io/depositsilk/
@depositsilk
A muon capture device. Muons introduce randomness into binary code as subversive cosmic ray particles. This exhibition caught them as sound, as the sound of randomness. This was the investigation of the universe’s sabotage of computing, the idea of disruption as art, of the introduction of the universe’s anarchy into the human world of programming and planning. Ana-Maria had built her own circuits and this evolution in art was a departure from her beginnings in Blender, computer aided design, a real move away from the art of the computer.
Yufan Wang, Improvisation 2026
@sanye_animal
At the back, there is an auditorium of cameras representing surveillance and pressure. You sit with your back to them in a stress-free space. And you do an exam on paper which is a subversion of the exam factory, particularly that which represents Chinese studies for the entrance exams. The exam paper has nonsense questions and nonsense answers. It questions the value of examinations because it says it is worth a £100 pounds because it has ten ten pound notes glued to its back. This is the creation of a comic space which examines the societal pressure to perform and the implicit expectations of Asian culture for the young and the future.
Rosie O’Neill – Conversation Piece
@rosieoneilldesign
You sit on chairs which have scripts for four different voices on each chair. You have the scripted conversation. The creation of an immersive theatre space with no audience. The pleasures of reading, the pleasures of acting and the pleasures of speaking all combined.
Charlie Turnbull-Hall
@by.charlieth
A stylish black shirt with a scarlet rose on it which invokes the heights of haute couture and sophistication. A wonderful design.
Sarah Martinez Cornejo
Sarahmartinezcomejo.com
A pyramid sculpture which evoked the South American civilisations that had come before and connected to the traditions and culture of the artist. There was a book shaped as a mirror behind which shows the hand postures that had created the design, themselves inspired by glyphs from South American heritage. The pyramid as a memorial, as the preservation of time and culture perhaps, but also as the memory of the body and the artist’s hands to stand against the ravages of time.
Neha Ratanchand
Bluemangopractice.cargo.site
@bluemangopractice
Neha asks me what do women need more of? I say love. Everyone needs more love. Neha tells me that women need more space. It is something she learnt in South India, watching the conditions for women out there. So, she gives women space. A huge black notebook. A huge pencil.
She tells me to write that women need more love in the notebook since this was my answer. I move the pencil around. Maybe it represents the weight of the phallocentric order and patriarchy because of its phallic shape. I draw a heart with an arrow through it.
You can see the video of this immersive art experience on my Instagram account: @suneelmehmi
diary of a lone man 