The Transfiguration of Matter group exhibition, 2025, showcased artists who build on art traditions while exploring new ways of making through the manipulation of unconventional materials.
Practices of repair and repurposing have long been intrinsic to cultural production, present since the earliest human expressions of art. Yet, over time, these practices have been devalued. The belief that 'new' equates to 'better' pushed repair and reuse to the margins, seen as primitive or outdated in the age of mass production and consumerism.
In this context of overproduction and overconsumption, the artists in this exhibition grapple with the impulse to create art whose value is not fixed but attributed. They transform discarded materials through time, care, and labour, elevating the overlooked and forgotten into works of art. Each artist responds to the challenges of circulation and production through a thoughtful engagement with material and form, embracing the hidden histories of use, wear, and age, and recognising the poetic potential in the broken and accidental.
Exhibited artists:
Cecily Loveys Jervoise
Reuben Yoell
Lucy Ellis
Simon Job
Jacob Sirkin
Tobias Gumbrill
Polina Annikova
Dylan Morris
Images by Jacob Sirkin
