Contact information
jcjones79@hotmail.co.ukHome Is Where The Art Is brings together the works of sixteen members of Grafters Collective to explore working-class perspectives on the home. Themes of place, family and the mundane re-occur throughout the show.
Essex born artist Thomas Holland highlights the intrinsic link between location and home as The Essex (2022) displays a coat of arms on floorboards imagined to be found in the back of a fictional manor house, church or community centre in the Essex countryside. Whilst Melissa Newbery Welcome’s Fieldnotes (2025) uses the technique of phototransfer to display images of moments in London which the artist deems ‘typical’ of their home city. Lily Donaldson’s Locket (2024) emphasises the importance of family in relation to the home as the painting shows a locket which holds images of the artist’s nuclear family, prior to their separation.
In Holding Them Up (2024) Vernetta Chukwu displays footballs, originally belonging to her father, hung in a rope net and intertwined with photographs from integral moments of her life. The work speaks of the artist’s family’s connection to football and to each other, commenting on the intrinsic links between ourselves and those with which we share our homes. Whilst Antonia Del Ens’ installation Being Called Extraordinary Isn’t A Compliment (2025) compiles found objects typical of a working-class British household to explore the emotional significance of mundane possessions and ‘everyday’ moments in domestic space.
Audiences are invited to reflect on what home means to them as well as the significance of domesticity, family and fleeting everyday moments which may often become overlooked in a busy working lifestyle.
A series of events organised by Grafter and exhibiting artist Elleanna Chapman will run alongside the exhibition. This will include a Curator Tour, a Workshop, two Artists in Residence, a Public Participatory Artwork and a Panel Discussion.
Artists in the show
- Antonia Del Ens
- Beth Seeboo
- Edie Samuels
- Elleanna Chapman
- Emma Ogawa Todd
- Gabby Pavek
- Gem Bryant
- Jennifer Jones
- Karl Murphy
- Lily Donaldson
- Melissa Newbery-Welcome
- Mia Harwood
- Millie Noble
- Savanna Achampong
- Thomas Holland
- Vernetta Chukwu
