31 March – 26 June 2022
Millennium Gallery, Sheffield
Opening on Thursday 31 March, Not Without My Ghosts, exhibition examines how art continues to be inspired by the practices of mediums, spiritualists and the deep cultural history they represent.
Not Without My Ghosts looks at how artists have engaged with séance and other paranormal investigations. It takes inspiration from the visionary work of William Blake. Alongside the largely forgotten Victorian spirit artists; Georgiana Houghton and Barbara Honywood. Featuring work from the 19th century to the present day.
It includes a large proportion of work by female artists. Illustrating the women, who have interpreted and engaged with spiritual art, and their strong artistic roots in the history of feminism. Their work, based on experiences and communication with the spirits’ world, was strikingly at odds with 19th century traditions of artistic expression.
The exhibition brings together: paintings, works on paper, installation, video and animation by 25 international artists. It comes to Sheffield direct from London in partnership with Hayward Gallery Touring, London and Drawing Room.
Not Without My Ghosts – The Artist As Medium is a Hayward Gallery Touring, London exhibition from Southbank Centre, London, developed in partnership with Drawing Room.
#The works on display reflect the artistic process and creation of art. The exhibition features the Surrealists’ experiments and how 20th century artists, with an interest in occultist rituals, like Austin Osman Spare, Ithell Colquhoun and Cameron, combined techniques drawn from automatism.
From the present day, the exhibition features artists including Emma Talbot, Suzanne Treister, Lea Porsager and Louise Despont*. Their works demonstrate how contemporary artists continue to use the power of the unseen and uncanny to explore ambiguities of the world around them.
*‘Not Without My Ghosts’ includes work by Noviadi Angkasapura, William Blake, Cameron, Barbara Honywood, Georgiana Houghton, Ann Churchill, Ithell Colquhoun, Louise Despont, Casimiro Domingo, Madame Fondrillon, Chiara Fumai, Vidya Gastaldon, Madge Gill, Susan Hiller, Augustin Lesage, Pia Lindman, Ann Lislegaard, Grace Pailthorpe, František Jaroslav Pecka, Olivia Plender, Sigmar Polke, Lea Porsager, Austin Osman Spare, Emma Talbot and Suzanne Treister with The Museum of Blackhole Spacetime Collective.
Not Without My Ghosts – The Artist As Medium opens at Millennium Gallery on Thursday 31 March and continues until Sunday 26 June – entry to the exhibition is free.
Millennium Gallery, Arundel Gate, Sheffield, S1 2PP. Tel. 0114 278 2600
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