Woods works across collage, zine- making, sculpture, textile and quilting. They were part of the first cohort of Graduate Scholars in 2014. They exhibited with the Collection at The Manchester Contemporary in 2018, at ‘More T’North‘ at the Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston, in 2020, and at A Modest Show, Manchester in 2022.

‘Condescending Order’ is a series of zines produced on a monthly basis in 2015, reflecting current political themes. Usually produced in an A5 booklet format, each zine has a variety of formats including poetry, collage and illustration.

Woods’ work critiques capitalism, inequality and societal structures with the intent to inform and empower. She explores these concepts through a variety of mediums with a focus on experimentation and humour. Woods intends to make work which confronts institutions of power and politics, while remaining inclusive and accessible. A decade on, the zines’ themes of ‘broken britain’, political debate, electoral tensions and mistrust of government still hold particular resonance.

This year, I was selected for a Travel Bursary from the Contemporary Art Society, allowing me to head down to London with them to explore Frieze, and to attend a panel discussion with Valeria Napoleone.

Alongside this I also saw 2 other exhibitions whilst in London; Chun Kwang Young’s Inherent Memory, and Strange Wonders: Jizi and pioneers of contemporary ink from China.

Chun Kwang Young : Inherent Memory

Tristan Hoare Gallery

I had previously seen some of Chun Kwang Young’s work at the 2021 Venice Biennale – the intricacy of the small triangular forms wrapped in antique mulberry paper, tinted with various teas or pigments; it is a feast for the eyes. The volume of jagged forms, contrasted with each shadow and reflection of light from a multitude of different angles encapsulates the viewer to pause and get lost in each of the works.

Chun’s signature technique is reminiscent of childhood memories, medical herbs wrapped in Mulberry paper and hung from the ceilings of the local doctor’s office. This link to his Korean heritage and merging these techniques into his art is astounding. Chun takes countless Korean books and wraps the pages around polystyrene shapes, giving each one its own individuality. Although not able to read Korean, I find the writing upon each shape inspiring, as it further emphasizes the nature of our species – history being lost to time, and yet reused or rebirthed into new and exciting ventures. Chun’s work will always be a treat to witness firsthand.

Strange Wonders: Jizi and pioneers of contemporary ink from China

Brunei Gallery

After this I then went to the Brunei Gallery at the SOAS University of London, where the Strange Wonders: Jizi and pioneers of contemporary ink from China was on display. This exhibition was intriguing, for the way it was hung and put together, but also the content. Large ink works on rice paper clad the walls throughout the lower level of the Brunei Gallery, a mix of celestial and the everyday amalgamated into various pieces; pockets of space and entrances to other worlds.

Otherworldly forms, statues emerging from the dark, planets and celestial bodies above mountains, stone paths atop geometrical obelisks, stamped writing freefalling in nothingness, and road signs reiterating that there are no U-turns allowed here.

Jizi’s work is born from experience, and his research into Buddhist and Daoist classics. At first glance the works seem chaotic, nonsensical, and yet when looking closer the works feel at peace – floating through an ethereal plane of existence. Everything fits together, flowing into each other, and overall just provides a real sense of calm. No U-turns, once you have seen this work, it will stay with you in a way.

“The rules say ‘use form to draw spirit’, but I in fact ‘use spirit to draw form’.”

FRIEZE LONDON

Paula from CAS gave the group a tour of select stalls within Frieze. Starting with a solo presentation of Lotus L. Kang’s work from Franz Kaka. This interested me in a few ways; colour, form, content, and process. The colours were evocative, a very specific orange-brown found in photographical development processes stands out from the white cube environment as large sheets of film tower above you. Franz Kaka has stated that these film sheets are continually-sensitive leading me to believe that they are similar to some of Lizzie King’s work, whereby I mean they are continually being exposed to light and are slowly continuing to develop chemically. The vague shapes of the rafters and scaffolding holding the Frieze tent above is evident on a few of these sheets, now exposed as a warm thermal glow. As someone who is used to working with 35, 120, and 127 mm film rolls, the work being presented leads me to be taken-aback from the sheer scale of the material used.

We next viewed the Dust that never settles (2024)  by Nour Jaouda, which is one of 2 works that CAS has acquired by women artists through the CAS Collections Fund for The Hepworth Wakefield.

This work is based in fabric dye and pigment on canvas, and is another piece that I couldn’t help but become lost in the details of. This large-scale textile stands at the threshold of painting and sculpture, Jaouda’s work is inspired by her immediate surroundings; these being cosmopolitan cities, and prayer mats that are seen in Egypt. Vibrant blues and ochre yellows, the work is a delight to look at, and could easily be interpreted in many ways by different viewers. For me it was almost as if natural forms and plants were emerging from manmade panels, the brightest of the blues and yellows breaking through the segmented subdued colours.

Sonic Gym – Milky Coiffured Cosmic Compression (2019), by Haegue Yang. A sculptural work that wasn’t meant to be still – the work was spun for us, the individual bells used in its construction rang, and the plastic twine splayed outwards from the inertia. This work is part of a series of Sonic Sculptures that started in 2013, many of which also use bells, as these have been a staple element that many cultures adopt; from tribal societies to the modern era, this adding a layer of mythic and ritualistic memory to Yang’s work. Unique visual patterns and sounds are experiences after a state of silence and immobility; something I wish to see again in a quieter environment to fully appreciate its intricacies.

Valeria Napoleone xx Contemporary Art Society

CAS then took us to Valeria Napoleone’s residence/ gallery – the walls of this London Terrace were filled with artwork by various female artists over the years; as Napoleone has been collecting work since the 1990s, there is no lack of it. Ranging from paintings to sculpture, small and large, it was a collection to behold.

The following talk between the CAS members and Napoleone was interesting to me as it was an in-depth introduction to select works that VN xx CAS has acquired since its founding in 2016, and then gone onto be presented in various CAS affiliated Museums such as: Leeds Art Gallery, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, The Hunterian, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, York Art Gallery, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

I was intrigued by the 1973 film Antepartum by Mary Kelly – a film acquired for Brighton & Hove Museums through VN xx CAS. Kelly’s work is renowned for introducing feminist concerns into the male dominated space. This film being part of a series of works that focus on the experience of pregnancy and motherhood. Black and white close-up shots, the film portrays a pregnant stomach at full term; the film showing the subtle rising and falling of the abdomen as breath is drawn and then exhaled. Part of the reason for my intrigue is that of physicality and the material that is used to capture this work – analogue film (converted to DVD for digital conservation). The look and feel of film is one that captures natural environments and life so well compared to the digital medium of today (in my opinion); it has a unique quality that captures the soft details and subtle movements to great effect.

The kindness of Napoleone, everyone at the Contemporary Art Society, and the other organisational representatives knew no bounds. Even a full month later I am still digesting the amazing work I saw, and cannot thank the Contemporary Art Society enough for this opportunity.

Also a quick shout out to Kate from Tate, Megan from North Yorkshire Council, and Kirsty from Dundee as we spent most of the day discussing art and our different roles respectively.

Turner is a photographic artist exploring narratives of symbiosis between the landscape and the individual. ‘A Seat in the Shade’ is part of a larger body of work produced during the Venice Biennale 2019, where the artist undertook a stewarding fellowship co-ordinated by the British Council.

The series, which includes a self- published photobook, is a meditation of the claustrophobia of Venice; this work encapsulating a search for a moment of solitude in the city. The print was handmade by the artist in the colour darkroom in an edition of 2.

Turners’ wider practice investigates interactions with landscape as a way to navigate social and cultural themes and issues, through both personal and existential experiences. He has exhibited at the Open Eye Gallery Hub in Leigh Spinners Mill, London Metropolitan School of Art, The Brunswick Leeds, and Paradise Works in Salford. His writing has been published online and in print, including with Redeye: The photography Network. He is currently Photographic Technical Demonstrator at the University of Salford.

Rawlinson is an abstract painter primarily working in oils. His work explores the natural world, with a particular focus on lichen – a symbiotic natural organism. He takes interest in their ‘often-unnoticed and underappreciated significance within our ecology, highlighting the extent of our vital relationship with everything that makes up life on earth’.

Using abstraction, gestural mark-making and a range of painterly techniques to ‘give life to’ his paintings, he builds up rich and textural images on large scale canvases. The works seek to manipulate the act and experience of looking; and provide spaces of contemplation and reflection. They form a basis for wider philosophical enquiries, drawing on existentialism and phenomenology, around ‘what it means to be alive’, and what our individual and collective place in the world might be.

Rawlinson has exhibited across the UK, including Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, Brick Lane Gallery, London and The Alchemy Experiment Glasgow. Recently he was awarded a travel scholarship by The Aidan Threlfall Trust to the Scottish Highlands.

Lizzie King uses analogue and digital printmaking and photography to explore the ‘narratives of our human-centred universe’. This work was one of two pieces commissioned for Rediscovering Salford in 2020, a city-wide project inviting artists to respond to green spaces in the city.

King focussed on Peel Park and the importance of free and open ‘parks for the people’. Demand for public green spaces traces its roots to the Victorian era, and the park is widely recognised as one of the first ever public parks – and the first to be paid for by public subscription. This importance was heightened during the Covid-19 pandemic: while the artist was shielding it was one of the few safe places to visit.

The park bench became an important symbol of rest, relaxation and reflection: ‘The bench asks nothing of the sitter but ‘to be’’. In this work King reverses the roles – the bench itself becomes the ‘sitter’ of a ‘portrait’. Using an elaborate process of photography, engraving, enlarging and digitally combining 42 original images into one composition, the making of the work itself also became a meditative and reflective process.

Jameson is a queer multidisciplinary artist who works across physical and digital mediums to depict ‘unworldly narratives of the queer form… with fantastical narratives or comic depictions’. They see their work as a form of gender performance, and draw inspiration from across sci-fi, fantasy, technology, fashion and queer culture. Previous projects include direction, production design and costume for local film projects, music videos, and commercial campaigns.

Foraged from scrap,
Yet forged into treasure,
Here floats Arcadia.
A harmonious sanctuary.
Where water seeps,
rock weathers,
And minerals scatter,
Sprouting life.
Retold in this virtual realm of broken binaries and unbridled fantasy,
We prosper in imperfect harmony.
Here… We are one.

Jack Jameson’s work presents a model utopia, inspired by mythology and folklore. In this world nature prevails, and the ‘forest nymph, water siren and rock troll dwell in in harmony – free to be’. The work combines craft, costume, 3D scanning, printing and rendering, photography, and animation.

Glazzard is from West Yorkshire and based across the UK. Clients have included Calvin Klein, Adidas and Sony Music, and work has been featured in British Vogue, British GQ, British Journal of Photography, Elephant Magazine, The New Yorker, Dazed, and i-D.

Glazzard is a photographer and creative director working across personal, commercial and editorial fields. Their series LGBT+ Letters serves to counter the ‘complete lack of queer visibility’ the artist was met with upon coming- out while at secondary school; and aims to challenge the ‘stale stereotypes’ that still hamper the LGBTQIA+ community.

Through intimate snapshots accompanied by personal, hand-written accounts of the subjects’ own experiences of queerness and representation, a body of work is formed which celebrates the many different definitions of what ‘queer’ can be. ‘LGBT+ Letters is an attempt at providing, through portraits and texts, queer aesthetics for people who find themselves without meaningful representation in the world’.

Joe Fowler is a sound artist with a focus on the marriage of data, sound and visuals for the purpose of digital data conservation. His work includes code manipulation, microsound, sonification, and the deliberate corruption of common software. His work has been exhibited in hi-fi contexts such as TEDx and Jodrell Bank, and lo-fi context such as DIY shows at Islington Mill.

Outside of his work as a sound artist, he has provided composition and sound design to numerous media products, such as the 2023 Royal Television Society North West Best Animation ‘Wild Rides’. Fowler is now a lecturer in Creative Audio at the University of Salford.

‘Call to Industry’ is a ‘tongue-in-cheek exploration of Manchester’s fetishisation of industrial spaces and history, via a parody cult initiation video for an organisation which worships industry’.

The artist examines the frequent repurpose and reuse of former industrial spaces in the city, which often disregard the dark history of the buildings – including the exploitation and abuse of the working class. He considers the inequalities underlying the Industrial Revolution, which allowed those with enough money and power to continue to exploit those without such privileges. Today, property developers create expensive luxury apartments on the same sites, continuing to lock the working class out of the ability to ‘enjoy the greatest city on earth. Join the cult, worship the ruling class, worship industry…’

Elliott Flanagan is a poet, writer and artist. He was born in Burnley, a post-industrial town in the North of England. His work explores class, subcultures, and personal and social histories. A period spent playing football, working in sales and holiday repping contrasted with a ‘hidden pursuit’ of art via film, music, television, fashion, and rare gallery visits. His work is an exploration of the sometimes jarring intersection between these co-existing lives, and an ongoing dissection of contemporary masculinity.

He works regionally and internationally using poetry, installation, performance, sound, text, filmmaking, and collaborative practices. He was published by Burnley Words Festival in 2023 with Pendle Press; commissioned by Venture Arts in 2023 with artist Barry Finan, and exhibited new work at The Whitaker, Rossendale in 2022.

‘A piece of something bigger’ explores contemporary masculinity through the prism of package holiday culture. Flanagan looks at the ideas entrenched in the male gender stereotype that saturated his youth – misunderstood and under pressure to ‘conform and perform’. The artist studies a tension from his own experience between one’s own consciousness and social expectations.

‘The traditional form of masculinity and its lack of complexity is subverted, as the viewer is party to glimpses of real honesty in the chaos. The film discusses the camaraderie that exists in relationships between men and the value of the communal experience therein.’

With music by William Brown and Ashley Snook.