Preview night: Flo Brooks and Asmaa Jama

Book your free place for the opening night preview of our new summer exhibitions.

Taking place the night before the exhibitions open on Saturday 10 June, this evening is an early chance for you to view the exhibitions, speak with professionals about the works on show and celebrate art in the gallery space. There will also be food and drink available from Emmeline cafe and bar.

Flo Brooks, Harmonycrumb

is a new commission by Flo Brooks exploring trans and gender-nonconforming histories through painting and assemblage.

The exhibition includes seven acrylic paintings appliqued onto found fabric, and five to six assemblages comprised of lino flooring cutouts and handmade objects. Together, these works explore speculative entanglements between Brook’s own life and the experiences of different historical figures, including military leader Joan of Arc (1412-31), ‘female husband’ Charles Hamilton (1721-46), and physician Michael Dillon/Lobzang Jivaka (1915-62).

Asmaa Jama, Except this time nothing returns from the ashes

A new exhibition by artist and poet Asmaa Jama in collaboration with artist and costume designer Gouled Ahmed.  Exploring self-portraiture, archive and memory, the exhibition is inspired by African photography studios, places of self-expression that are at once political and historical, fictional and intimate. 

Central to the exhibition is a new film commission, . Shot on location in Addis Ababa, the film follows the ghostly, glitchy presence of those who exist in the margins of the city. Combining a poetic narrative with spoken word and music, the film explores how national canons are constructed and can be corrupted.

Host or Publisher Spike Island