Exhibition:
Local / National / International

Exhibition dates

23 November 2024 – 16 February 2025

Opening Times

Tues – Fri  | 11.00–17.00 
Sat- Sun | 10.00 – 17.00
Monday | closed 

FREE to visit

Aliyah Hussain, Paloma Proudfoot, Renee So

A trio of solo exhibitions from three artists who work in ceramics. 

These exhibitions champion ambitious work being made in the North of England as well as bringing exceptional artists to Salford for the first time, revealing the similarities and overlaps in their practices. For each artist, ceramics are used as a vehicle for imaginative storytelling, constructing contemporary narratives through objects, tableaus and immersive environments. Feminist ideas recur throughout, with the artists challenging gender norms and representation in engaging, seductive and sometimes humorous ways.

Aliyah Hussain / She was waiting for her roots 
 
Hussain works across ceramics, sound and collage, drawing on themes found in feminist science fiction and speculative storytelling. She makes expressive sculptural objects that can be reconfigured and remixed for different spaces. Inspired by Anne Richter’s 1967 science fiction short story The Sleep of Plants, Hussain will create an immersive environment exploring plant horror, transformation and feminist refusal. Drawing on connections to the rural landscape of Todmorden and her interest in botany and plant folklore, creeping ceramic vines, fronds, roots and curious receptacles will test and penetrate the boundaries of the gallery. An ambient soundtrack will fill and reverberate throughout the space, made by placing contact microphones directly onto clay sculptures.

Read Lu Rose Cunningham’s text here

Paloma Proudfoot / Lay Figure 

Proudfoot applies her knowledge of clothes patternmaking to inform new and unique ways of constructing her complex ceramic friezes and sculpture. For Lay Figure, Proudfoot draws on research into the gendered history of medicine, specifically the treatment of female patients at the Salpêtrière Hospital in 19th century Paris. This was the epicentre for the study of hysteria, using artistic mediums such as plaster casting, photography and sound to diagnose, demonstrate and treat symptoms. Questioning the perceived reliability of these materials, Proudfoot will present an expansive ceramic and mixed media sculptural relief and wearable sculptures. Two performances will bookend the exhibition, made in collaboration with artist and choreographer Aniela Piasecka and composer Ailie Ormston.  

Read Amrita Dhallu’s text here

 
Renee So / The Essence 

So engages with traditional craft forms such as ceramics, tiled wall works, stained glass and hand-woven textiles, weaving historic influences through a contemporary feminist lens to create playful and timeless sculptures. In this exhibition, So presents a series of oversized perfume bottles, drawing on the design cues that modern perfume bottles take from their predecessor, snuff bottles, which originated in Qing dynasty China and today can be found in the collections of many Western museums. In a new body of work, So responds to an image of women playing cuju, an ancient Chinese ball game which predates football; the image is recreated by So in a new tiled mosaic and a ‘magic mirror’ - an optical phenomena that was a popular item in China during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 24 AD), the same period as the earliest documentation of cuju.

Read Sophia Cai’s text here

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