The Norman Rea has opened its doors for its final exhibition of the year, The Practice of Love, which will run until the 4th of April.
The gallery centres the theme of love, which has always permeated artistic expression, allowing for a deeper exploration into the many forms connection takes in our contemporary society whether romantic, platonic, or familial.
The exhibition reinvigorates our understanding of love, acknowledging its power to act as a radically unifying force while simultaneously representing the familiar intimacies of friendship and self-love. The artworks on show range from painting and sculpture to video and poem, it was a joy to visit and connect with these pieces made by talented artists across the country and thoughtfully curated by those at the Norman Rea society.
The artwork seen above is “Hold me, Please” by Tansy Clarke (She/Her). The swans serve as an extension of the artist and exist in a space where love is “given and received without fear or ego”. This piece captured my attention, not only is it beautiful but it inspired me to think about how our surroundings affect the way we express our emotions. This is only one of the many incredible works on show which truly embodies ideas about intimacy and love.
On the exhibition’s opening night, visitors were serenaded by the soulful tunes of The Blazers, while they had the opportunity to write love letters and explore the array of artworks on show. I spoke to Evie and Iris the co-directors of the gallery to find out more about the exhibition:
What inspired you to choose love as the theme for this exhibition?
(Iris) “With images of love you come across them so frequently when you’re in an art gallery. Love as a force which inspires people is something we encounter across centuries of human history.
To deliberately bring together images of love in a collection all together was something that we were interested in doing to show the universal experience, emotion and action that love is.”
“The radical capacity of love was something that we were really inspired by.”
Why is non-traditional love at the centre of this exhibition?
(Iris) “We have been deeply inspired by a lot of feminist theory that teaches love to be a social practice or discipline that’s rooted in love as a unifying force for community. We recognise that love and images of love have the capacity to radically unite people and radically challenge dominant power structures.
“If we are used to seeing the same hetero-normative images or images of the traditional nuclear family it ends up prescribing to you in your head what is acceptable or what has been acceptable previously. So we really wanted to bring together images of love and reclaim what images of love look like to the audiences of today.
“There’s so much power in representation and seeing the love that you feel represented in a gallery”
How does the gallery interact with local and student artists?
(Iris) “We have a number of student artists who we frequently exhibit here. We are very conscious that the Uni of York doesn’t have a fine arts course. But there are so many wonderful student creatives, so it’s important that we function the Norman Rea as a hub for student creatives.
“We really wanted our space to function as a platform for artists that are just starting out and often that does happen to be student artists so that’s always been a core value and focus of everything we do. Although we are a student gallery we do get a large audience. We are the only student run gallery in the UK and that does mean something.”
(Evie) “I think we’re always quite passionate about showing the breadth of art and all the different mediums that’s out there. It’s definitely my favourite exhibition we’ve ever done.”
“Having had depression for a huge chunk of my life, I have forgotten how much love exists around me. This piece captures love in its different forms and serves as a reminder for my future self to continue having an open heart”
Could you tell me about one piece on show which you have connected with?
(Evie) “Gala Hills – I just think they are beautiful really. Something we didn’t know was there’s another artwork by Sarah Catterall (@sarahcatterall). It’s a video piece called Sisters about female friendship and love about Sarah and her housemates from Uni and her housemate is Gala Hills so that is a lovely connection there and they are both beautiful.”
“In this work I focused on sensuality, I wanted to capture the softness of fabrics and the ease of a domestic interior, but still there is a gesture of sensuality from the figure towards the viewer, she knows she is being looked at. The dog lays waiting, ready to protect of stand by, a guardian between her and us”
(Iris) “There really are so many but there is a beautiful section of two portraits by an artist called James Robert Morrison they’re these beautiful images of gay love and representation. He draws them on cigarette paper which makes a reference to slurs used towards gay men. But it becomes this beautiful exploration of intimacy and closeness. Finding intimacy in the face of hate and within a history of hate. It’s a really moving piece to witness.
“It’s one of the exhibitions where we’ve had the most artworks, on install day we were working to fit everything in but we did manage.”
“They are referenced from the personal stash of gay porn magazines secretly bought when he was a closeted teen who felt pressured to hide his true sexuality. At that time, this was the only place he could see representations of intimacy between men.”
Many thanks the the Norman Rea Gallery, especially Iris and Evie for taking the time to speak to me. Additional thanks to the artists who kindly allowed me to use images of their work in this article, each of them are incredibly talented. I urge you to visit the gallery this exhibition is not to be missed!
- Tansy Clarke (She/Her) @tansy_clarke
- Sophia Vargas (She/Her) @sjvart
- Gala Hills (She/They) @galamadesomething
- James Robert Morrison (He/Him) @james_robert_morrison