"This show presents a radical idea.  That viewing sculpture in a field changes how you engage with art, politics and the problems steadily arising from the growing global state of permacrisis. Outside of the buildings, the rule book is different. ‘Please don’t touch the artwork’ is out the window through and through. Windows are out the window for that matter, along with the walls." – Meg Stuart

Welcome to Winter Sculpture Park 2023.
​Stroll freely. Explore. Play.
And most importantly, get lost. 

WINTER SCULPTURE PARK 2023 ARTISTS

Alex Lidagovsky​ (he/him)
Alex's sculptures have become recognised on the streets of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with 15 public works across the city. His practice probes humanity, reflecting society on itself. 

SOCIAL SPRING,  invites audience interaction and feedback. Alex Lidagovsky is an artist originally from Huliaipole, Ukraine, now based in London.

Anta Germane (she/her)
Anta Germane is a visual artist, her work explores themes of the contemporary city, pondering on it’s industrial past and present. Identifying repetitive patterns in urban areas and using them as a basis for prints, light objects, sculptures and installations she explores how mass production is intertwined with the fabric of a city and our lives on a level that goes beyond consumer products. ABACUS speaks to the urban housing market where property prices are inflated through various means, counting and counting. ​

​Butch Attai (he/him)​
Butch Attai is a London based multidisciplinary street artist. Butch’s painted and sculptural work is firmly rooted in Graffiti culture, but has deviated from the traditional Hip Hop path into a world that explores 3-dimensional layering and sculptural forms. A simple childlike house symbol sits at the centre of his work, almost replacing the written name.  'The House' questions the ethics of society's endless demand for growth and redevelopment. Its high stilts speak of the imminent environmental crisis as our living spaces seek distance from rising sea levels.

Chloe Rochefort (she/her)
Chloé is an artist and facilitator, focusing on mental wellbeing and community-engagement through textile installation and sculpture, combining playful processes with personal stories. As a material-led creative she considers interaction with textures an act of self-care, prioritising community engagement and skill-sharing in her practice. UNPUZZLED is a playful installation composed of 5 large-scale, soft cushions, inspiring ideas of comfort and wellbeing. At specific times during the exhibition the artist will reveal the installation as a large-scale puzzle.

Darcey Fleming (she/her)
Darcey Fleming's artworks are meticulously handwoven. The material she creates to form her sculptures is constructed from recycled balers’ twine donated by local farmers or collected from her local environment. Intertwining high-fashion and traditional textile techniques, her work explores the interplay between the cultural ‘WOW’ factor and its sensitive considered opposites.

Gabriele Risso (he/him) 
Gabriele's work questions the fundamental essence, purpose and structures of traditional architecture. Blurring the lines between building practices and the plastic arts, Gabriele uses his practice to investigate questions he has around space and how it can be separated. Through this exploration, Gabriele’s practice engages with public space and its uses. CAGE stems from the deep interest the artist has for the dialogue between the plastic arts and architecture.

Lady Kitt (they/them) 
Lady Kitt is an artist, researcher, and drag king whose work is driven by an insatiable curiosity of the civic functions of art. Their meticulous shrines crafted out of riotously colourful recycled plastics, honour and incite togetherness by creating shared spaces that are simultaneously ornate, exuberant, mischievous and haunting. SUSTAIN is a (secular) “shrine” to sustenance- celebrating the role of collaborative creativity in nourishing communities and ways of doing stuff. The installation, a travelling folk-art shrine, built from reclaimed / recycled materials, grows and changes with each venue it visits.

Lucy Faherty ​(she/her) 
Lucy's work is grounded in the idea of design as a tool for research, with each object a considered output in a wider investigation into themes including the anthropocene, archaeology and excavation. This Untitled Piece explores the interaction between humans and nature, focusing on the human desire to dominate the environment whilst exploiting it. The towering sculpture blends geometric forms and manufactured rubble, a mix of pebbles and concrete. The two forms are joined by a coating of black resin, blurring the line between where one object ends and another begins. The coating of the rubble questions what lies beneath, a boulder, a rock or a man-made fossil...

Mike Sprout (it/that) 
Mike Sprout is part human part cabbage; using vegetable-communication techniques whilst sculpting wood and drawing pictures. It makes work about the human disconnect from the environment, using collaborative art to reconnect communities with land, self and other. Exploring both the connected divide, it likes bright colours and earth-tones, loud noises and silence, and simplicity and complexity. In an exploration of the relationships between us all, WOODEN BODIES shows ties of reciprocity such as familial bonds, economic and psycho-spiritual interdependence, and environmental proximity. Some reach out to another, and new egg-people are born, attached by umbilical limbs.

Sara Osman (she/her)​
Sara depicts post-war, Middle Eastern cities through her sculpture. The disastrous scenes she builds in her installations are deeply rooted in personal trauma, cultural histories, and Islamic beliefs. Hence, her sculptures are not a direct documentation of war, but often explore the traces of grief, inbetweenness, identity and lack of belonging that are left amongst the rubble.  Contradicting the traditional materiality of ruins, the viewer is invited to observe themself in the mirrored surface of each pristine building, critiquing the Western gaze for its observations, but lack of action. LOOKING BUT NOT SEEING asks, is this “post-worthy” city now worthy of protection?

Tabitha Weddell (she/her)
With a strong interest in community art and public engagement, Tabitha uses her knowledge of ceramics to encourage interaction and participation from the viewer. Taking inspiration from ancient vessels and traditional ceramic forms, her works never repeat exactly, with each differing in an eclectic assortment. 'Please DO TOUCH the sculpture thank you' is an interactive work that opposes the typical rules seen in public art and gallery settings. Inspired by the bead maze tables often found in waiting rooms to entertain children, the work uses wood and ceramic materials to create a tactile and tangible activity. The sculpture aims to encourage play in both children and adults within the outdoor environment, the traditional space of play. 

Tere Chad (she/her)
Human inconsistencies inspire Tere's practice, using her work to explore how man is the only sentient being capable of studying his inconsistencies. In The Ephemerality of Peace she explores the state of permacrisis we are living in; Russia's invasion of Ukraine, military exercises in Taiwan, Iran’s Nuclear Programme, Russian and Iranian military exercises in Venezuela, the climate and energy crises, rising poverty rates and political instability across the globe.  As a new era far from peace lies ahead , Tere digs in search of a sign of stability, with bulbs to bloom throughout the show period. Is it within our nature to find a motif to fight for?

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Alexander Brain (he/him)
After losing his parents and his stepfather between 2016 and 2018, Alex re-ignited his passion with art to explore the absurdity of life. The materials Alex works with are repurposed discarded objects that speak of the speed of life in the digital age. THE COME DOWN reflects the extended period of instability, insecurity and turbulence we are constantly adapting to in today’s world. Alex's sculpture is made of found items and mixed media, inspired by newspaper headlines over a 12-month period. The mirrored head provides time for self-reflection on our individual coping process. The used nitrous oxide canisters, found discarded on the streets and parks of Alex’s local area and evident across the whole country represent our need for escapism, be it short lived.

Ben Oakley (he/him)
Ben is a prolific conceptual artist whose work doesn’t stick to one medium or subject matter. "Why listen to other peoples preconceptions about how to pigeon hole yourself, the whole purpose of art and creativity is to be free and express oneself." With this being Ben's life statement he is able to relate his creativity and artistic vision to a wide selection of unique works and mediums.

​Catriona Robertson (she/her)
Burrowing and burying themselves, her monumental sculptures eat into the ground and into the ceiling in an attempt to break these boundaries, engulfing and regurgitating architecture. Tunnelling through in-between spaces, they re-emerge with a new hardened stone-like shell as they absorb residue of the site they are made in.
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​​Chris Thompson (he/him)
Chris Thompson is interested in art that appropriates, reconfigures and antagonises. Working with a diverse cast of known materials, objects and references, he aims for his sculpture to provoke speculation and inquiry in the viewer, making them consider their cultural memory and the contradictions embedded within contemporary existence. NAME is a recreation of an industrial shredding machine. Bent and broken, it sits comfortably within the post-industrial malaise, buried in the earth.

Erika Trotzig (she/her) 
Erika makes precarious structures, using temporary and unstable construction methods. Mirroring aspects of architecture, her work questions the process of remembering, both individual and collective, and evolves into space-dividers, obstructions and fragments that alludes to ruins. Her works are humorous: un-heroic, un-monumental and absurd. ‘No Frills..’ continues her enquiry into what a monument could be; it is an absurdist and poetic response to our current predicament.

Jamie Temple (he/him/they/them) 
Jamie's practice is rooted in printmaking and woodcarving, creating unique works on paper, sculpture and installation. Recent works speak to the complexity of the world in which we exist and survive, with its multitude of dynamic and chaotic systems and structures: environmental, social, planetary, human-made; endlessly interfering/diffracting. In these artworks the artist seeks specifically to pose questions around how humans ceaselessly attempt to assert control over natural chaotic systems, like weather or climate, feeding back into artificially constructed systems such as energy grids, politics and power structures.

Laura Such (she/her) ​
Laura integrates primal human emotion in her works, aiming to reflect society and address global issues. The relationship between material and form is represented by humorous, tense, and fragile connections. Toying with forms that intrigue and engage, Laura alters the materiality of everyday objects, reassessing the meaning and fabric of the familiar. BROKEN DREAMS is a touching reminder of loss in the cycle of life. Using a gently poetic familiar form to solidify a moment in time. The impression in the pillow echoes the innate human desire to leave a mark, both physically or mentally.  The juxtaposition between the pillow and the concrete speaks of the millions of displaced people forced to sleep on our streets.

Mark Houghton (he/him) 
Mark Houghton’s practice is centred around a concern for  the human relationship to the built environment. He incorporates objects and materials that he discovers in his surroundings, making his encounters central to the artwork he produces. THE GREAT GATES OF KIEV is a sculpture based on a painting he made whilst a student, with the painting initially influenced by a piece of music from Pictures at an Exhibition by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. "I began making this piece before the current war in Ukraine had erupted. Obviously this has gained added significance since formulating my initial intention.”

Nathalie Coste (she/her)  
Nathalie’s work is about the end of the world as we know it, and the peculiarity of this moment in history. She uses her skills in embroidery, pattern cutting, moulage, to create volumes of psychedelic and ghostly shapes.  For Winter Sculpture Park 2023, Nathalie is showcasing AncêTres. This body of work is deeply rooted in the process of going through life with the acknowledgement of our ancestral history with respect and devotion. The whole work is made from recycled tires and woven innertubes, with a few additional flairs.

Paddy Docherty (he/him) 
As a historian and artist, Paddy uses his sculptural practice to investigate his interest in the past. With a focus of study on the British Empire and colonial wrongdoing, he explores themes of exploitation and wealth extraction, using the past to contextualise and comment on the social and political destruction he evidently sees in the present.  EVERYTHING WITHIN REACH expresses the unconstrained accumulation that defines capitalism, particularly in its current, most destructive form. We are immediately confronted with a striking opposition between the natural upward growth of the tree, and the downward pull of gravity acting on the disembodied, malevolent hands. A piece reflecting the descent of the human race into a hellish future of ecological catastrophe, as capital interests continue to grab everything that they can despite the ruinous impact. ​

Simon Kennedy (he/him) 
Out of the peculiar debris of life, like a meteorite striking the earth, Simon's sculptures and installations occupy, converse with, and short-circuit familiar environments and behaviours. He seeks to use unexpected shifts in perceived normality within time and space. Simon is an artist of the anomalous and a dedicated observer of the mysteries of the Cosmos. THE POINTER was made in 2021 on the isolated peninsular of Loch Craignish on the West Coast of Scotland. The sculpture shifts the public’s attention from the earthly to the sky above, directing them to the location of the North Star Polaris. ​

Olana Light (she/her)
Olana's wearable creations are a mythic representation of her world view. The alien beings that she creates transcend real and imaginary realms, bending the fragile boundaries of what we perceive as our reality. “In these hyper-real times, we become more conscious of our true relationship with nature; we need to understand that we are deeply connected with it: it is vital to our survival.” FLY LIKE A BUTTERFLY Live Performance Winter Sculpture Park Saturday 18 February.​

Alex Young (she/her)
Combining the elements, Alex Young’s creative process surrenders to the uncontrollable response of her materials. Scorched, fragmented, decayed, burned and regenerated, her practice becomes cyclical, like the turning of the sun. Through regenerative rituals, Alex constructs her sculptures highlighting the inherent mutability of material, and allowing transformation and decay. ​

Bill Hudson (he/him)
William Michael Hudson, aka Bill, is a Bexley-based sculptor that regularly works in natural landscapes and outdoor urban settings. With an interest in human spatial interaction, Bill takes inspiration from follies and pavilions, and the history they hold in their (decaying) structures. Recently, his practice has centred around the reuse of discarded objects and found materials. UNNATURAL IN  THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT incorporates non-native plastic weeds Bill has found in London's streets. 

​​​​​Charlie Franklin (she/her)
Charlie Franklin poses transience and ambiguity in place of traditional sculptural practices. Working with formless materials, Charlie builds surfaces likely to alter over time. This sense of uncertainty & impermanence is central to her practice, as she seeks to uncover the ways in which objects can mark their territory and play a role in determining our sense of place. Mimicking a standing stone, RUNE is a theatrical, opposing variation. Shiny, light, and temporary it takes its form from tarpaulin and aluminium tape, stuffed and fleshed out with foam.

Danny Young (he/him)
Presenting a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ sculptural practice, Danny Young’s playfulness and humour denies the seriousness of traditional sculpture. Exploring his experience of mental illness, heartbreak and failure, Dan’s work documents his attempt to navigate the absurdity of the lives we live and the obstacles we face, challenging seriousness with emotivity, honesty and laughter. “WHOOPEE is a playful response to the overall deflated attitude, and the ‘bag of farts’ that has been 2022. From the political and economic turmoil of the country, its failed leadership and my own experience of life and development since art school."

Fredrix Vermin, Evil Genius (it/that) 
Fredrix Vermin’s creations dwell in the space between repulsion and allure, with institutional critique and humour at their centre. Posing questions through text, performance, video and installation, Fredrix is offering an alternative; “dressed in the guise of progression, and wearing a socially engaged badge, it's convinced us all to take part and made us all complicit.” NO RIGHT WAY is a critique on the privatisation of public land and the tools used by developers to re-present it as ‘open to the public’ after demolition and reconstruction has taken place.

John Pedder (he/him) 
John is a woodcut printmaker born in Hull before moving to Sheffield where he now lives and works.
John's main motive is the basic need to create. The subject matter tends to deal with the nobility of life: finding the honour and goodness in a person, a deed, a situation, coupled with a large helping of humour - an aesthetic journey using craft skills to try to make sense of an increasingly bewildering world - with a few laughs along the way. ​The Shadow Thrower deals with the person you are when nobody else is around, often manifesting itself as dancing when you are by yourself.

LUAP (he/him)
British artist, LUAP fuses adventure with art, closely drawing from his explorative experiences. His adult-size Pink Bear suit follows him up mountains, through surreal landscapes, bustling cities and far-away places, juxtaposing with his static central figure The Pink Bear. Using different mediums and techniques, he tackles mental health, the climate emergency, and isolation head-on.

Mia-Jane Harris (she/her) & John Matheson (he/him) 
Mia-Jane is a Bexley-based sculptor working with found-objects. Her work delves into the theme of resurrection. John is a model maker who blurs the line between scale and satire with themes of war and dictatorship. Collaborating as part of Winter Sculpture Park, the artists are combining their practices, exploring the encounter between human and environment. BUILDING IN THE BRANCHES is the construction of a miniature village within the branches of a tree. Through regular documentation of weathering and change, the artists aim to pose the wider question of what time can do to our homes and our lives.

Nicola Turner (she/her)
Nicola investigates the dissolution of boundaries. By exploring the in-betweens and the patterns of exchange present within ecosystems her work speaks of the interconnection of life and death, human and non-human, attraction and repulsion. Her work combines found objects and materials from organic ‘dead’ matter such as horsehair, soaked with traces of memory. ENCAPULATION explores protection and stabilisation as central but opposite elements of interconnectivity and change. The piece invites reflection on the wider systems and influences that run through and across bodies, both human and non-human.

Rebecca Buckley (she/her)  ​
‘Gone to Earth’ is an experimental sculpture, exploring how Rebecca could move toward a more sustainable art practice. Layered on a modular steel frame, bio-materials and recycled textiles serve as windows to view an inner sculptural habitat, providing a refuge for surrounding wildlife.
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‘I am responding to the difficulties a sculptor encounters when choosing and using resources in a world where single use of materials is the norm. By using biodegradable materials and providing a habitat for wildlife, I hope to complement and nourish the earth."

Sing a Song on the Ground Collective; Junchao Ren (he/him), Zhoabo Yang (he/him) & Patrick Jones (he/him) Sing a Song on the Ground Collective is a group using their creative practices to explore the possibilities of public sculpture as a way of reconsidering its functionality for group cohesion. Their work translates the social contradictions that public sculpture takes on into three-dimensional poetic expressions. 

​21 DOORS is a cube of doors. Windows are on every side, yet the viewer may try in vain to unblock the view.. Multiple possibilities and formations emerge through this disjunctive synthesis of misaligned entrances, revealing new spatial channels of different dimensions. “With the infinite possibilities of the universe, parallel worlds become possible, but are the forces that transverse them controllable? “
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CONTACT US
Please contact us with any questions via Instagram @Gallery_no.32.
​Alternatively, please contact us via email at [email protected]

Curated by: Meg Stuart & Kieran Idle
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