In a change to our regular gallery programming format, Exeter Phoenix is hosting a new gallery residency project with South West-based artist Alexis Soul-Gray that runs throughout February in Gallery 1. The project provides the artist with an opportunity to explore and test new ideas for the creation and presentation of her work that make use of the scale of the space and the ability to engage with visitors as she works.

Predominantly working in painting, collage, assemblage and printmaking, Soul-Gray explores ideas of nurture, dereliction and the mother archetype in relation to trauma and loss. She employs a variety of found imagery and objects, both as points of reference and as physical material, to question issues around memorial, nostalgia and commemoration. During her residency, she intends to experiment with the presentation of more sculptural elements and with working at a larger scale than has previously been possible. At various points during the residency period, on an ad-hoc basis, there will be opportunities for the public to see work in progress and ask the artist questions.

The residency forms part of our Platform programme, which offers artists based in the South West region opportunities to test out ideas, new work and recent developments in their practice. In this instance, the artist was asked how the offer of space would be most useful to her practice at this point in time, with no preconceived agenda or outcome required. Soul-Gray has opted to split the time available between the period of residency, working in the space, followed by a more formal exhibition period that may include work created in the space as well as other recent works that will be exhibited here for the first time. A simultaneous solo exhibition by Annabelle Tim Hogben will be on display in Gallery 2 throughout this period.