Eloquence in touch and texture | Tabatha Andrews: The Slightest Gesture

ByArtsCulture

Experiencing the launch of Tabatha Andrews: The Slightest Gesture at the Exeter Phoenix is disconcerting, mesmerising and an ultimately deeply comforting adventure that excites interaction. 

Touch and texture feature high in the show, which invites a new way of being with the art that is so wrappable with shapes that are so explorable.

As part of the opening, the works were ‘activated’ by members of South West Dance Hub. Their movements reflect and interact and offer a whole body eloquence to the works that pushes beyond ‘looking’. Gallery 1 is alive with their calm energy. A calmness reflected in Rotation Drawings, you can even see how they are made, in the Sensory Gallery.

The late evening light in Gallery 2, combined with the large inviting structures, made it wonderful restful and inspiring. It’s a liberation and helps you think differently about art and your body and mind. 

The exhibition forms part of a socially engaged, collaborative sculpture and dance project, in which the artist worked with learning-disabled and neurodiverse young adults in Exeter from Freefall+ to explore diverse ways of being and moving in relation to sculpture and environment.

It celebrates intimate, everyday gestures; of routine, of care, joy or exhaustion, translating them into sculptural form in a variety of tactile, haptic materials.

Tabatha Andrews draws attention to non-verbal communication, touch, movement and listening. Each work is designed with a relationship with the body in mind, how it might fit or feel.

Tabatha Andrews, The Slight Gesture runs to 21 June. Check out the opening times.

Join Tabatha for an artist’s talk on Sat 17 May, 12pm Free (booking required) as she discusses the exhibition and her wider practice, followed by an activation by South West Dance Hub.

ArtsCulture
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