A new exhibition, Household Name, exploring everything from domesticity to witchcraft is about to open at The Elysium Gallery in Swansea. It features seven Welsh and Wales-based women artists working cross-medium to scrutinise the traditionally male-dominant idea of a household name.
What does it mean to be a household name? In The Elysium Gallery’s new exhibition seven women – both internationally renowned practitioners and emerging artists – have offered their artistic response to the theme. Described as a “a dynamic and timely contemporary art exhibition”, the responses encompass paint, sculpture, film, photography, text and performance. The work exhibited tackles the given theme from a variety of perspectives including deep dives into domesticity, witchcraft, gender identity and climate change.
The seven exhibiting artists are Laura Ford, a sculptor who has exhibited in institutions including TATE and National Museum Cardiff; Zoe Gingell, who is a director at Cardiff MADE and champion of emerging Welsh and Wales-based artists; Cherry Pickles, who is a teacher at London’s Royal Drawing School who has also exhibited extensively including with Coombs Contemporary; Fern Thomas, who is a 2019 Jerwood Bursary recipient and a Fellowshipee supported by The Freelands Foundation at g39; Zena Blackwell, who won the 2017 Cardiff MADE Open and took third prize at PS Mirabel’s ‘PAINT’; Raji Salan, who has exhibited extensively including twice at the Jerwood Drawing Prize; and Adele Vye, who is the previous winner of Welsh Artist of the Year and recipient of the John Brookes Memorial Prize for Fine Art.
“Historically, the majority of household name artists are and always have been male,” said exhibition curator Zena Blackwell. “So, Household Name seeks to redress not only this imbalance but also the inadequacies in gender representation in museums and galleries. Infamous cult leaders, human traces in the house, perceived ideas of family members, the availability of the working parent to its offspring, gender norms and of being at the precipice of climate breakdown are just some of the themes scrutinised in Household Name.”
You can book your free exhibition slot to Household Name here – exhibiting from May 29th – July 10th.
