Cheapside

Cheapside

Curated by Rachel Mortlock & India Stanbra

12 Dec 2025—17 Jan 2026
Private view: Thursday, 11th December 2025, 6 – 9pm
Public Dates: Thursday – Sunday, 12 – 6pm

Contact information
Rmortlock@hotmail.co.uk

The title, Cheapside, is both location and provocation; what traces of history remain when the market is replaced by capital? What happens when flesh, once openly traded, becomes abstracted and distorted. Cheapside seeks to reanimate what has been consumed, displaced or forgotten, drawing on the site’s layered history as both a market street and banking district to create a new marketplace of art.

The exhibition unfolds through uncanny, surreal works – stretched, fleshy and strange – that draw on the area’s commercial past. Hanging forms echo meat displays, cold surfaces recall stainless steel counters, and fragments of workwear and stained glass suggest the presence of workers who once moved through local pubs and stalls. The atmosphere is at once familiar and unsettling, rooted in London’s market culture while haunted by transformation and disappearance.

The project is led by interdisciplinary artists India Stanbra and Rachel Mortlock, who together test the boundaries of exhibition spaces, and the shifting relationship between artwork and audience. As the fourth in a series of group shows, developed in collaboration with Hsi Nong-Huang and Janek Nixon, Cheapside extends their collaborative exploration of materiality, visible process, and alternative modes of display, creating a new marketplace of art within the city’s architecture.

Cheapside
Artists in the show
  • Janek Nixon
  • Charlotte Dawson
  • Ekaterina Luzgina
  • Leo Bant
  • Milly Aburrow
  • Emma Papworth
  • Dolly Kershaw
  • Amy Kim Grogan
  • Katie Surridge
  • Sarah Roberts
  • Claudia Martignetti
  • Mike Mcshane
  • Helen Hamilton
  • Emma Black
  • Simon Prentice
  • Holly Keogh
  • Haydn Albrow
  • Rachel Mortlock
  • Isobel Atacus
  • Sophie Lloyd
  • Tulani Hlalo
  • Ruth Faulkner
  • Kid Buckley
  • Kenji Lim
  • India Stanbra
  • Kavitha Balasingham
  • Chaney Diao
  • Winnie Hall

Artwork List

Wind Up Mice
Wind Up Mice
Winnie Hall , 2025
Party Feelings
Party Feelings
Winnie Hall , 2024
You’re a Winner Baby, but at What Cost? (Blue)
You’re a Winner Baby, but at What Cost? (Blue)
Tulani Hlalo , 2023
Trophy Head 05
Trophy Head 05
Sophie Lloyd , 2024
Sucrosion – Sherbet Lemon Head
Sucrosion – Sherbet Lemon Head
Sophie Lloyd , 2025
Sucrosion – Rhubard and Custard Head
Sucrosion – Rhubard and Custard Head
Sophie Lloyd , 2025
Mog & Magog
Mog & Magog
Simon Prentice , 2025
Hangover of Care [Love note from the nineties]
Hangover of Care [Love note from the nineties]
Sarah Roberts , 2025
The Landlord
The Landlord
Ruth Faulkner & Kid Buckley , 2024
Edo
Edo
Rachel Mortlock , 2025
British Love Affair
British Love Affair
Milly Abburow , 2025
Snacking is an Art
Snacking is an Art
Milly Aburrow , 2025
U n I
U n I
Mike McShane , 2023 – 2025
Mouth Piece
Mouth Piece
Mike McShane , 2025
Forbidden Caterpillar (Peach Pit)
Forbidden Caterpillar (Peach Pit)
Kenji Lim , 2024
Forbidden Caterpillar (Honorary Magician)
Forbidden Caterpillar (Honorary Magician)
Kenji Lim , 2024
Cherub
Cherub
Kenji Lim , 2024
hey hey hey hey hey
hey hey hey hey hey
Kavitha Balasingham , 2025
Beast From the East
Beast From the East
Katie Surridge , 2025
To Be Found Fit in the Eyes of the City
To Be Found Fit in the Eyes of the City
Janek Nixon , 2025
Ode to the rough and the smooth (curly wurly)
Ode to the rough and the smooth (curly wurly)
Isobel Atacus , 2025
Hmm, well (huh)
Hmm, well (huh)
Isobel Atacus , 2025
They told me it’s out there
They told me it’s out there
India Stanbra , 2025
Snorkel From Home
Snorkel From Home
Holly Keogh , 2025
Untitled
Untitled
Helen Hamilton , 2025
A Mouthful of Teeth
A Mouthful of Teeth
Haydn Albrow , 2024
A_0125 Interface II
A_0125 Interface II
Emma Papworth , 2025
Rehearsal for a Pasquinade # 2
Rehearsal for a Pasquinade # 2
Emma Black , 2025
Placement
Placement
Ekaterina Luzgina , 2021
Suspension
Suspension
Ekaterina Luzgina , 2021
Mouthy Boxing Gloves (Ensemble)
Mouthy Boxing Gloves (Ensemble)
Dolly Kershaw , 2021 – 2025
Baby Noses
Baby Noses
Dolly Kershaw , 2024
Mr Blobby’s Boat Ride
Mr Blobby’s Boat Ride
Claudia Martignetti , 2024
A Butcher’s Rose
A Butcher’s Rose
Charlotte Dawson , 2025
A Butcher’s Heart
A Butcher’s Heart
Charlotte Dawson , 2025
Series of Fantasies
Series of Fantasies
Chaney Diao , 2025
Road Kill
Road Kill
Amy Kim Grogan , 2025
Sea Within a Sea
Sea Within a Sea
Leo Bant , 2025