Jo Longhurst We Contain Multitudes

A major new group show featuring work by Andrew Gannon, Nnena Kalu, Daisy Lafarge and Jo Longhurst. Works in sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, and moving image will fill both galleries at DCA.

There are many points of connection between the artists as they explore envelopment, enclosure, surrounding and restriction. Both Gannon and Kalu’s sculptures emerge through acts of binding, pleating, and layering — gestures that are echoed, both literally and metaphorically, in Longhurst’s appropriation and manipulation of bindweed and Lafarge’s use of kinesiology tape. Kalu’s drawings are records of movement; explorations of space defined by the length and reach of her arms. Lafarge’s paintings are made on the floor, in moments of waiting — for pain to subside or bureaucracy to respond.

The exhibition has been developed from the collaborative project also titled We Contain Multitudes. Funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the project is a collaboration between DCA, Collective and Lux Scotland, working towards creating systemic change in the Scottish arts sector for disabled visual artists, arts professionals, and audiences. Centred around training, research and a commissioning programme, and informed by a disabled project team and steering group, the project aims to create opportunities for meaningful organisational development and systemic change in visual arts in Scotland tackling ableism in the sector and imaging a future in which disabled artists have increased access to opportunities, are visible and their expertise truly valued.