An Everyday Perspective on Unspeak The Chorus & Playing With Fire at The Hepworth Wakefield

All too often, in the pursuit of evening and weekend plans, the temptation is to take to Instagram or Google and search for places elsewhere, accidentally disregarding what’s right on your doorstep. It's not a temptation I’m exempt from. And I have been trying to get better at noticing, appreciating and visiting what’s on my doorstep more often. The places, spaces and creative moments that make everyday places unique. But sometimes the best reminders of what’s nearby arrive in the most unexpected ways. This is an overdue reflection, on a welcome return to The Hepworth Wakefield that took us beyond the ground floor and up into the gallery spaces above.

An unexpected invitation to The Hepworth Wakefield

Last year, Jake and I had the pleasure and the privilege of being invited (on the strength of Jake’s photography talent) to preview the two new exhibitions at The Hepworth: Playing With Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto and Kira Freije: Unspeak The Chorus.

It’s taken me some time, admittedly, to finally write about this experience. Not because I didn’t love it and not because I didn’t think it was worthwhile, but because more than anything, I didn’t feel qualified to write it. I’ve always loved art, but I’m not an artistic talent, expert, historian or even commentator. Just an enthusiastic appreciator. So I got stuck. Until I realised that being completely ordinary may well be my strength here. Along with my longstanding support for all the good things in my hometown. The Hepworth is one of the best things to come to Wakefield in my lifetime, and I've been around a while (longer than I’d care to admit in fact).

So what follows here is not a particularly educated, high-brow or critical review of these two exhibitions, but instead an everyday, honest one, from a Wakefield local that loves art.

An everyday, honest review

It all started with an Instagram message. James, from The Hepworth reached out to Jake, with an invite to preview the two new exhibitions, take photos and most importantly, have an opinion, and most critically, any opinion. With such an open brief, engaging invite and an already established respect and appreciation for the gallery, it was an easy yes to give. And kindly, and luckily for me, I was able to attend too. Jake and I often visit The Hepworth and take photos, it’s one of our favourite places to go and we rarely miss their House of Makers, ceramics, print and Christmas fairs each year, but admittedly, we are less regular in our tours of the gallery itself. Something I’m pleased to say has already changed this year, when we revisited this exhibition during Wakefield’s Rhubarb Festival weekend.

The preview was scheduled to start on a Friday afternoon. In a quietly curated lull post lunch and pre-press. And in November, at the perfect intersection to enjoy the gallery spaces and exhibitions as the light moves from day to dusk; the richest time for taking photos and experiencing the transformative effect of light on art.

Playing With Fire

Our journey started with Playing With Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto, just to the left of gallery one at the top of the stairs. Here a tantalising glimpse to the shadowed left and straight ahead and into white light, revealed more of what Playing With Fire had to offer. This subtle revealing of the experiences yet to come left me rather undecided on which way to turn, so initially I contented myself with lingering at the entrance a little longer and watching the video of Edmund discuss the start of his creative journey with Axel Salto before ultimately, I decided to turn left.

Here a room within a room, designed to mimic the kiln in which ceramics are fully formed, held an impressive collection of ceramic forms in softly lit space that created a calm, secluded atmosphere. But before that, sat one of my favourite parts of this exhibition. The enormous jar-shaped forms, free-standing in the space, etched with words and marks, free to feel and explore through touch. I’m always thrilled when an exhibition invites you to engage with it beyond just looking and this exhibition delivered a multi-sensory experience at every turn. Moving through this space into the next, still moving left, it transitioned from shadows into full colour.

Pattern, shape and texture appeared everywhere across ceramics, textiles and sculpture, before culminating in a creative space that delivered my second highlight: a chance to create through play.

Here Jake and I got truly stuck in. From resting in the reading nook, to sketching shadows cast by found objects on the table, to enthusiastically stamping our way through the stamp corner, we concluded our efforts by proudly pinning our own “mini-masterpieces” to the corkboard above.

From here we looped back through to where we started, this time heading onwards into the bright white space which housed another room within a room. Here the scale changed dramatically from the monolithic pots in the “kiln room” to pleasingly petite and unfathomably fragile, almost paper-like pots displayed in a bright white box in the centre of the space. Flecks of silver metal were amalgamated into the ceramics themselves, catching the light. The iridescent surfaces of the ceramics in this space, for me, felt like stepping inside a trinket box; pearlescent and precious. 

Unspeak The Chorus

From here, we left Playing With Fire behind and headed through the double doors into Unspeak The Chorus. By now the light outside had turned to dusk and on reflection, the darkness outside made the lighting installation in this space come into its own. A floor to ceiling installation of reflective metal, warped and waved in a way that felt like looking through water, rose to meet spotlights, bouncing off the reflective surfaces to create light that reminded me of memories. 

Coupled with the hazy vapour in the air, the whole space felt as though the scene in front of you was viewed through your mind's eye, recalling memories of moments from another time and place. And what a scene. The space is generously filled with sculptures of people and pets in moments of everyday emotion. It’s an exhibition that reveals more detail with every turn around the room. I loved the buckets.

Filled with more reflective material that froze a ripple in time. The sculptures for me are indicative, offering just enough shape, texture and detail to suggest the subject: a man, woman or dog, but abstract enough to let you make them in some part your own through interpretation of the moment they’re in. We spent considerable time, quiet in this space, watching the light change the shadows of the sculptures.

Effortless access to world-class creativity

Every time I visit The Hepworth, I am reminded of what a joy it is to have such effortless access to world-class creativity. It gives everyday creativity a new meaning; it’s the opportunity for regular inspiration instead of big cultural trips to fuel new ideas and perspectives. It’s a very real embodiment of arts and culture moving out of capitals and into communities, accessible to everyone. It shapes the local culture too. Wakefield used to be known for the Westgate Run, today it’s more about the Artwalk. Places like The Hepworth give us opportunities to change how we see things, to carry colour, shape and texture away into our day to day lives as inspiration. 

Playing With Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto and Kira Freije: Unspeak The Chorus are both showing at The Hepworth Wakefield until May this year, alongside the gallery’s permanent collection. An hour at a steady pace, or two at a slower one is ideal to engage with the installations and sculptures. If you want my advice though, I’d also spare some extra time for a coffee and cake in The Hepworth restaurant and stroll through the shop as well.  Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of intentional time somewhere to see familiar places a little differently.