Overview of the exhibition. The ‘Wilderness for the mind’ exhibition brought together the works of 31 artists from the Wilderness Art Collective, highlighting the connection between nature and mental wellbeing at the strange and unprecedented time of Covid-19 lockdown. Our courageous, experimental, explorer artists whose life experiences inform their works vary in extremity in their desire to connect fully with nature: wild swimming, mountaineering, sailing and parascending. During lockdown, many of the artists have found new sources of inspiration in their local environments.
The exhibition ran from 12 June - 3 July and was accompanied by a programme of behind the scenes interviews, studio visits and artist demonstrations.
Please click here to Explore the virtual Events
Our live opening event included a tour of the show, artist interviews and an introduction from co-founders of the Wilderness Art Collective. This can be viewed on our YouTube channel. Please note the show starts 8 minutes into the video.
Curation of the show. The exhibition was open to all artists involved in the Wilderness Art Collective - each expressing a connection to nature in different ways. To guide you through the collection we have gathered works in four themed rooms.
With thanks to Clare Dudeney, Geraldine van Heemstra, Catherine Greenwood and Simon Hitchens for curating and organising the show; Helen Jones and Polly Bennett for leading the social media; and Sam Gare, Luke M Walker and Catalina Christensen for setting up the collective.
Room 1 - Tracing Journeys
This room contains traces of journeys in space, time, memory and imagination. Walking through the environment, finding objects, accumulating residues and collecting data. Presenting fragments, imprints, impressions and pathways.
Room 2 - Moving Elements
This room explores the language of seas, skies and weather. The rippling, frothing, crashing and billowing boundaries of air and water. Finding mental flow through immersion in calm, forceful and unpredictable elements. Presenting smooth, reflective and disrupted surfaces.
Room 3 - Eroding Horizons
This room challenges our relationship with rocks and earth. The desire to find something solid, permanent, when everything changes. Shifting, crumbling, eroding to grains from which new life can form in glorious colour.
Room 4 - Life's Intimacies
This room touches flora and fauna. Handling it delicately, carefully observing twisted bark, seaweed, shells and insects. Considering the cycles of life and death. Using locally found, scavenged materials to share momentary encounters.
