Material Beings

Material Beings is an artist-led exhibition pushing the conceptual nature of craft practice through a radical rethinking of materiality. Curated by QEST Scholars Max Bainbridge and Abigail Booth of studio collective Forest+Found, the exhibition brings together the artists Chloé Rosetta Bell, Marlène Huissoud, Alida Kuzemczak-Sayer, Francisca Onumah, Marcin Rusak, Max Bainbridge, Abigail Booth and fellow QEST Scholar Frances Pinnock.

With a common grounding in the physicality of our material world, each artist’s practice takes us beyond the corporeal into an intimate exploration of the human body and psychological condition. With works that shift between the natural and un-natural, this exhibition allows space for the materials themselves to permeate our minds and question where our sense of self and the physical world begins. Seeking out tactile encounters in their work, be it through the exploration of material, or the physicality of their making process, these artists explore the experience of body and object in space. Often relying on intuition in the making, or searching for a state of contemplation in connection with imagination and memory, their works exist somewhere between the real and imagined, the human and the non-human. Collectively their work acts as a physical and sensory record of the search for meaning in the overlooked and everyday details of our lives. Often embracing moments of collapse or imperfection to challenge the hierarchical nature and perceived value of the materials they choose to work with. Wood, insects and clay turn our thoughts outwards to the natural world, while the manipulation of metal, leather and textiles, draws us back into the internal world of the artists themselves.

Ranging in scale from the monumental to the miniature, each artist’s practice moves between engaging with the by-products of other processes, found objects and self-generated material outcomes. Each brings with them a re-imagining of past lives and encounters to create new narratives and methods of communicating in this unpredictable and fast changing world.