lʌf
VERB (nautical)
to head (a sailing vessel) into the wind so that its sails flap
1 December 2023 – 3 March 2024
Curator Talk: Wednesday 6 December, 11am
Artist Talk with Finn Ferrier: Sunday 11 February, 10am
Ground Floor Galleries
If you’re a yachtie and you’re “luffing”, your sail is flapping – you’ve gone too far easing out the sheet, and you’re no longer harnessing the wind – out on the water, an encounter with this term is familiar, known, and informative. Here in the gallery, the word comes across unexpectedly, cute, and perhaps with a hint of intrigue. In this way, the nautical verb plays its part in welcoming you to this space, providing an exotic encounter which takes you abroad in the mind, in an act of dépaysement – one that leads you out of your familiar territory – and into a new realm, replete with four seasons.
When curating the show, this idea of the four seasons served as a guide, imposing certain parameters on my engagement with the collection. While landscapes and obviously seasonal motifs feature, you will not find catalogued labels or thematic groupings linking autumnal browns to withering branches, or blush watermelons to memories of languid summers.
Instead, the works were chosen with a certain whimsy, a lightness that evokes the play of free association, and the inadvertent discovery of hidden depths. Works recall feelings and moods, all of which are linked, some way or another, to distinct times and meaningful places, and to the seasons of our lives.
Luff is a nautical term, yes. But here, it is poetry and audibly fun. It does something to you when you hear it – takes you out of yourself – so you can enter this realm more fully; to hear the snow crunching beneath your feet, or imagine the morning sun warming a boiled egg. For seasons are times and places, spaces within us, and the scene-setters of life’s narratives.
Exhibiting Artists
Naomi Allan / Georgia Arnold / Bronwynne Cornish / Andrea du Chatenier
Nicola Farquhar / Finn Ferrier / Graham Fletcher / Cat Fooks / Emelia French
Kiki Hall / Milli Jannides / Tessa Laird / Saskia Leek / Peter Madden
Joanna Margaret Paul / Emma McIntyre / Nicholas Pound / Jo Raill
Christina Read / Guy Routledge / Katherine Rutecki / Nicola Shanley
Zina Swanson / Imogen Taylor / Adrienne Vaughan
Ann Verdcourt / Jake Walker / Amber Wilson
Photography credit: Sam Hartnett
Illustration credit: Kiki Hall @kiku_masan