Carry the Clouds Away at New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery

Something very wholesome from the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery this autumn, as a group of local artists reflect on the inspiration, connection, and solace we find in places of nature.

The University’s own place of nature, Peel Park, marks its 180th anniversary this autumn, and is the inspiration for several artists. Laura Daly’s The Storm Cone is an immersive artwork that reimagines the park’s own bandstand, demolished in 1965, and its buried past through an augmented reality app; Liam Ratcliffe’s photography captures a time-lapse of the seasons and skylines of the past year; Alumna Lizzie King’s postcards celebrate the park as a place of rest and escape, inspired by inscriptions on the reverse of Peel Park postcards dating to the early 1900s.

Hayley Suviste’s The River Has Many Lives was developed as part of a community project with Salford Loaves and Fishes, and responds to the River Irwell through printmaking, writing and audio-visual work – and the exhibition takes its title from a line in a poem by Ann Chan, one of the project’s participants; Adelina Court’s illustrations capture the development of a new community garden in Eccles; and pottery inspired by natural forms is loaned from START, a local mental health charity that uses creativity to improve lives.

Other works bring a more personal perspective on the theme, with graduate Jack Jameson considering the natural world through queer ecology, and current BA Photography student Alyssa Fort revealing nature at microscopic scale. The exhibition also features a selection of works from the University Art Collection, celebrating the inspiration that nature offers.

As we transition into autumn, it feels like a good moment for an exhibition like this, which asks us to stop and reflect on the natural world, as well as our own wellbeing.