Brewers Towner International

15 Oct 2022-22 Jan 2023

Overview

Brewers Towner International, a biennial exhibition of contemporary visual arts, returns to Towner Eastbourne, featuring a range of artists, local, national and international, coming together to share work that addresses the theme of SANCTUARY. The exhibition has been curated by Noelle Collins, Exhibitions & Offsite Curator, Towner Eastbourne.

Following an open call, 23 artists were selected by an esteemed panel including Elizabeth Price (Turner Prize-winning artist), Sepake Angiama (Artistic Director, Iniva), and Noelle Collins (Exhibitions & Offsite Curator, Towner Eastbourne). 19 artists will be part of the exhibition and a further four, meanwhile, will present a concurrent public programme.

The artists include a number based on the South Coast - Nigel Caple, Sharon Haward, Kevin Hendley and Benjamin Phillips & Amy Fenton who live and work in East Sussex, as well as Graham Ellard & Stephen Johnstone, Hicham Gardaf, and Edward Liddle who are based in Kent. Artists based elsewhere in the UK include Maud Haya-Baviera who lives in Sheffield, and Ufuoma Essi, Melanie Jackson, Amanda Kyritsopoulou, Dene Leigh, Karen Russo, Lara Smithson and Harald Smykla all based in London. Christophe Lennox lives and works in Norway, and Steph Goodger lives and works in France. Work presented will include moving image, photography, drawing, painting, installation and live performance.

The open call for Brewers Towner International is an opportunity to recognise and appreciate how artistic communities are reflecting and responding to the economic, political, cultural, and environmental changes that are unfolding in the contemporary moment. Artists have studied the places that have become a sanctuary throughout the pandemic - finding solace in the studio, the home and the landscape. The resulting exhibition brings together a community of artists, makers and storytellers, examining subjects as varied as pattern, memory, identity and the migratory experience.