I make sculpture and installations that queer how science and the natural world are presented and perceived. Seeing nature as fundamentally queer, my attention is captured by the entanglements, the baffling complexity and the weirdness that exists naturally, allowing me to distil and reimagine this in my work. By blending biology, science fiction and fantasy I create new narratives that frequently involve collaboration with living organisms to create stories about their lives, whether real or imagined.
Selected exhibitions, residencies and projects
2024
Speculative Future, STEAMhouse, Birmingham (Workshop and exhibition)
Eco Bootcamp, BCU, Birmingham (January-March 2024)
‘CRYOphage’ (collab with Sahjan Kooner), dankEconogy1_ALIENVillage, Kunsthal Gent, Belgium (exhibition)
2023
Dirty Cultures, Primary, Nottingham (Workshop and installation)
‘CRYOphage’ (collab with Sahjan Kooner), dankEconogy1_ALIENVillage, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (exhibition)
2022
‘Hybrids’ (collab Rajni Perera’s ‘A Starry Eyed Subspecies’) Temple Contemporary, Philadelphia, PA (exhibition)
Empathy for People, Empathy for Things (collab. Fiona MacDonald), Uni Hertfordshire (exhibition)
Queer Art(ists) Now, Space Station Sixty-Five, London (exhibition)
Rhymes with Orange, Fold Gallery, London (exhibition)
'Hybrids' - collaboration with Rajni Perera for Traveller, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (exhibition)
HYPERphage (collab Sahjan Kooner), (ASTRAL VILLAGE) slooooowwww, Artcore Gallery
2021
Field Commission: Asad Raza, Reabsorption, Grand Union Gallery, Birmingham, 2021/22
First Outing, (curator), Abingdon Studios and the Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool
UKNA, Future Producers – curated residency, Abingdon Studios, Blackpool
Beyond Heterotopia: Flags for Queertopia, Margate Pride, The Margate School (exhibition)
Clifford Chance London Pride (exhibition)
Ikon for Artists, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (exhibition)
2020
Materials Club, STEAMhouse, Birmingham March 2020 - present
Rituals, Tablespoon Theatre (exhibition)
Queer Contemporaries, curated by Short Supply, Air Gallery, Manchester (exhibition)
The Vulnerabilities of Queer Bodies, Balaclava.q (online)
Pack Midland (online exhibition)
Queerly Made - Curatorial project with Daniel Fountain, 2020 - 2022
Queer Art(ists) Now, Archive Gallery, Rose Lipman Building, London (exhibition)
2019
EOP Crit Club, Eastside Projects, November 2019 - March 2020 (residency)
Coventry Biennial, The Row (exhibition)
Summer Camp Showcase, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (exhibition)
Expanded Studio residency, Eastside Projects
Dirty Practice: Don't Wash your Hands residency, Wolverhampton School of Art
The Future We Want, Naturally, Asylum Gallery, Wolverhampton (solo exhibition)
BOM Fellowship, Birmingham Open Media, 2019/20
FLUX, Vittoria Street Gallery, BSJ, Birmingham (exhibition)
Next Wave Associate Showcase, RBSA (exhibition)
Blender (Soup V) residency and exhibitions (February-April), Stryx Gallery, Birmingham
2018
Queer Art(ists) Now, Archive Gallery, Rose Lipman Building, London (exhibition)
Swop Shop, Selfridges Birmingham (exhibition)
Next Wave, RBSA, Birmingham (exhibition)
ESP Show Your Stuff, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (exhibition)
Summer Lodge residency, Nottingham Trent University
Swop Shop, Tate Liverpool (exhibition)
Transitions, Vittoria Street Gallery, BSJ (exhibition)
2017
Coventry Biennial, CET Building (exhibition)
Visiting Artist, STEAM project (Birmingham Open Media) 2017/18
AIR Showcase, Vittoria Street Gallery, BSJ (exhibition)
Fluid Festival, Birmingham, 23-24 September
Margaret, MA Degree show, Birmingham School of Art (exhibition)
2016
Micro residency and exhibition, Chisenhale Studios, London
Artist Lab and exhibition (Simon Poulter), mac birmingham/New Art Gallery Walsall
Work in Progress II residency, Grand Union Gallery, Birmingham
Awards
DYCP, Arts Council England, August 2021
New Art West Midlands Graduate Prize, 2019 Hippodrome 120, Pangaea Sculpture award (shortlisted), July 2019
Next Wave prize, RBSA 2018
Engine Bursary, NAWM 2018
Gertrude Aston Bowater Bequest MA Exhibition prize 2017
A-N Professional Development Grant 2017
Publications/Press
QUEER PANDÈMIA (2023), TWM Factory ISBN: 9791255540281
UN//TITLED: An Anthology of Queer Contemporary Art review by Jonathan Kemp, Queerguru (June 2021)
UN//TITLED: An Anthology of Queer Contemporary Art, 2016-2020.
The Vulnerabilities of Queer Bodies, Balaclava.q, published June 2020
Marion Piper and Matt Gale in Conversation (May 2020) Sowing Seeds, Coventry Biennial pg. 18-22
On Smocking, Science and Sex (April, 2020) Decorating Dissidence, Issue 8: Queering Craft
Coventry Biennial 2019, Jennifer Dudley (December, 2019) Art & the Public Sphere, Vol. 8, Number 2
Coventry Biennial review (December 2019), Joanna Byrne
Artist profile and interview, The Asian Curator, 2019
An Artist's Take on the Insularity of Modern Times, RBSA Art Blog, 2019
Review of NTU Summer Lodge 2018, NAWM, 2018
Teaching /Speaking events
Fungi BioBox, STEAMhouse, Birmingham 2024
Artist Talk, Loughborough University, March 2024
Dirty Cultures, Oxford Brookes University, February 2024
Dirty Cultures, Primary, Nottingham, October 2023
Fungi Innovation (with Osmose Labs), STEAMhouse Birmingham, March 2023
Fungi BioBox, STEAMhouse Birmingham, October – December 2022
Fungal Futures, BABLAB, Bioarts Birmingham, August 2022
Decaying Matters, Grand Union Gallery, May 2022
The Coast is Queer, a-n Assembly Conference, First Outing panel, 28 Sept 2021
Online Lunch Club, Eastside Projects - 'fungi, mold and decay' March 2021
Biomaterials Outside Science symposium - University of Birmingham March 2021
Visiting Lecturer:
University of Wolverhampton - 10/2019 - 2020
Birmingham City University - 1/2013 - 5/2016
Education
2017 MA Fine Art (Distinction) - BIAD, School of Art, Birmingham City University
2005 PGCE (Advanced) Early Years - The University of Birmingham
1996 BSc. Hons Zoology - The University of Nottingham