Jo Lathwood: Making Up
We are all in a cycle.

Inspired by the history and heritage of Salford Quays, the area that is now home to The Lowry, and by her longstanding interest in journeys and movement, Jo Lathwood offers the idea of traveling backwards, undoing, and turning around as potentially poignant aspects of a sustainable future.

Commissioned by The Lowry, Jo Lathwood will spend four weeks in residence developing, building, and deconstructing a site-responsive sculptural work.

Visual artist Jo Lathwood makes sculptures and large-scale installations that regularly respond to a particular site, event, material, or process. Her project at The Lowry will open with a circular rotating platform made from recycled timber. Over the opening days of the exhibition, whilst being observed by visitors to the gallery, the artist will build a raised boardwalk to the structure; eventually inviting the audience to make a simple journey and become part of a circular system.

In a world of growth and consumption, where the mantra ‘onwards and upwards’ is often at odds with environmentally friendly living, this interactive installation will encourage visitors to move through and around the gallery space, but then, pause, be still, and reflect. The artist’s building materials—all reused or recycled—will be repurposed and distributed during the final days of the exhibition, leaving no trace and minimal waste.

Jo Lathwood: Making Up is at The Lowry from 20th January–3rd March 2024. Alongside the permanent LS Lowry Collection, The Lowry presents a regularly changing programme of contemporary exhibitions commissioned by or curated in-house by The Lowry. This exhibition has been made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England and Salford City Council.

Image credit Paul Blakemore.

SUSTAINABLE MANIFESTO