Foreign Bodies is a multi-site contemporary art project, organised by students on the MA Curation course at University of Exeter, reflecting upon the notion of the ‘foreign’ in relation to prevailing attitudes in the UK, and the South West of England.
Comprising six curated exhibitions located across three venues in Exeter city centre, Foreign Bodies explores the experience of being on the margins and what it feels like to be an outsider in a dominant cultural context.
As well as considering issues of diversity and inclusion in relation to gender, health, sexuality, and race, Foreign Bodies considers what it must be like to be ‘more than human’ in an urban setting, and how our unchecked consumerism has polluted the world’s oceans. The project also invites alternative modes of thinking, beyond traditional Western divisions of nature and culture, such as the esoteric practices of magic and divination.
EXHIBITIONS
SEEING DOUBLE
Artists: Hester Yang, Samuel Zhang
Curators: Fei Geng, Zhouying Meng, Shijia Yan
Seeing Double (curated by Fei Geng, Zhouying Meng and Shijia Yan) presents the work of UK-based Chinese artists, Hester Yang and Samuel Zhang. Using personal and others’ stories as a starting point, the artists examine the notion of ‘being foreign’ in the UK, both in the past and in the present, exploring the impact on self-identity and the experience of ‘seeing double’ when living in a second culture.
26 Bedford Street, Exeter, EX1 1GJ
SUBMERGED BODIES
Artists: Ashanti Hare, Tëan Roberts, Melanie Stidolph
Curators: Isla McGregor-Smith, Ashleigh Sirs, Sabrina Sudol
Submerged Bodies (curated by Isla McGregor-Smith, Ashleigh Sirs and Sabrina Sudol) brings together the work of three South West-based artists, Ashanti Hare, Tëan Roberts and Melanie Stidolph, reimagining feminist myths and traditions around water, and the idea that we are all bodies of water inextricably connected to the natural world.
26 Bedford Street, Exeter, EX1 1GJ
DIVINATIONS
Artists: KeFan Wang, YARA + DAVINA, Yihao Zhang
Curators: Yujie Chen, Shuo Gong, Yuxin Wang
Divinations (curated by Yujie Chen, Shuo Gong and Yuxin Wang) presents the work of KeFan Wang, YARA + DAVINA and Yihao Zhang, each of whom makes work in relation to the notion of divination, seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown through esoteric readings, Oracle cards or magic rituals.
26 Bedford Street, Exeter, EX1 1GJ
MORE THAN PINK
Artists: Ayla Bramblett, Izi Coonagh, Adriana Ford, Naomi Hart, Diane Leopard, Kate Walters
Curators: Kourtney Chu, Sampada Ladke, Yingjun Li
More Than Pink (curated by Kourtney Chu, Sampada Ladke, Yingjun Li) featuring works that aim to challenge conventional perceptions of breast cancer by artists Ayla Bramblett, Izi Coonagh, Adriana Ford, Naomi Hart, Diane Leopard and Kate Walters. Challenging traditional association with the colour pink, the artworks express a diverse range of emotions and experiences associated with the disease, including a focus on the role of art in supporting individuals through their journey.
11-15 Bedford Street, Exeter, EX1 1GG
FANTASTIC MR (URBAN) FOX
Artist: Marie Lehmann
Curator: Siyuan Huang
Fantastic Mr [Urban] Fox (curated by Siyuan Huang) presents the work of Marie Lehmann who envisions the rewilding of cities and closer human-animal coexistence. The exhibition reflects on the recent COVID-19 pandemic, a time when wildlife reclaimed deserted inner cities, prompting us to imagine a renewed symbiosis between human beings and other species within urban spaces.
Positive Light Projects, 184-187 Sidwell Street, Exeter, EX4 6RD
PLASTIC OCEAN
Artist: Steve McPherson
Curators: Jiayi Kang, Yueyao Wu
Plastic Ocean (curated by Jiayi Kang and Yueyao Wu) is a solo exhibition by photographer Steve McPherson showcasing his ongoing documentation of global marine plastic pollution. Forming an ‘undesirable archive’ of detritus washed up on our beaches, this photographic project aims to visualize the extent to which plastic waste impacts on the marine environment.
Positive Light Projects, 184-187 Sidwell Street, Exeter, EX4 6RD