In Conversation: Simeon Barclay & Jelena Sofronijevic

Join artist Simeon Barclay in conversation with producer, curator, writer and researcher Jelena Sofronijevic alongside Barclay’s exhibition, Farewell Sweet Innocence, on show at John Hansard Gallery.

Farewell Sweet Innocence is a major solo exhibition bringing together new commissions with existing, reconfigured works. The exhibition transforms the gallery spaces into a sculptural environment that examines how domestic objects, memory, and identity intersect with wider systems of culture, aspiration, and display.

Simeon and Jelena will, among other topics, discuss the representation of diasporic communities, particularly in the North of England. Jelena and Simeon will also discuss the development of Simeons work, specifically around performance and curatorial practices and what this means going forward. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A.

Simeon Barclay completed a major commission for Deutsche Bank’s London headquarters in 2024, and undertook The Robert’s Institute’s Practising Performance Commission, resulting in the performance The Ruin at ICA, London and The Hepworth, Wakefield in 2025. His work was included in British Art Show 9 in 2020, and other recent exhibitions have been held at New Art Exchange, Nottingham; Workplace, London and Gateshead; South London Gallery; Tate Britain, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. His work is held in public collections such as: Arts Council Collection; Zabludowicz Collection; Manchester Art Gallery; Whitworth Art Gallery.
(@empirelinespodcast) is a producer, curator, writer, and researcher, working at the intersections of cultural history, politics, and the arts. Their independent curatorial projects include Invasion Ecology (2024), SEEDLINGS: Diasporic Imaginaries, with Travelling Gallery (2025), and Seeds of Hate and Hope, at the Sainsbury Centre (2025), and they produce EMPIRE LINES, a podcast which uncovers the unexpected flows of empires through art. They are also pursuing a practice-based PhD with Gray’s School of Art, curating exhibitions with Balkan and Yugoslavian/diasporic artists in British art collections.
Much of their research centres on pluralising representations of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE)/diaspora communities and cultures, particularly from the Balkans and Yugoslavia, and more constructive, contemporary histories of non-alignment. More widely, they seek to platform lived experiences and perspectives often marginalised or excluded from representation, especially in anti-colonial and environmental activism. They work to make complex ideas accessible, not simple.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher John Hansard Gallery