Exhibitions in Manchester and the North

Maja Lorkowska, Exhibitions Editor

Luckily for us, when leaves start to fall, galleries change over exhibitions. This month’s top picks include communal sound-making, breathtaking figurative works and… glass pickles!

The Whitworth opens Barbara Walker: Being Here, the first major survey of the artist’s career to date. The show gathers over 70 works on canvas, paper as well as a brand new commission.

Also in Manchester, you’ll find art installations as commentary on food production in Steph Huang: There is nothing old under the sun at esea contemporary and Mikhail Karikis: Songs for the Storm to Come at HOME, where the artist stretches the potential of art and music to become a call to action.

Castlefield Gallery continues the 40th anniversary programme with 40 Years of the Future: Jo McGonigal x Frank Bowling, while Sunny Bank Mills celebrates the creative output of two local female artists in Loretta Braganza & Sheila El-Hassani: A Lifetime of Making.

Our top picks

Barbara Walker: Being Here at The Whitworth

Barbara Walker at The Whitworth, Manchester, Until 26 January 2025, free entry - Visit now

Expect to be moved as you encounter an incredible body of work by Turner Prize-nominated artist Barbara Walker.

The artist Barbara Walker, is a standing figure, working on her wall-drawing Vanishing Point. She draws four large figures of people on a large gallery wall.
Barbara Walker working on her wall-drawing Vanishing Point at Cristea Roberts Gallery, 2022. Courtesy Cristea Roberts Gallery. Photo: Helen Waters

earth to heart at Manchester Craft and Design Centre

earth to heart Exhibition at Manchester Craft & Design Centre, Manchester, Until 24 December 2024, free entry - Visit now

Exploring what creativity really means while experimenting with clay, this exhibition from artist Lily Brown and duo Imprints of Earth is a showcase of the possibilities of the material and the potential of working with imperfections.

Person holding two white ceramics
Lily Brown

Steph Huang: There is nothing old under the sun at esea contemporary

Steph Huang: There is nothing old under the sun at esea contemporary, Manchester, Until 8 December 2024, free entry - Visit now

Musings on food and consumer culture meet travel and storytelling in this exhibition of installations from Steph Huang.

Steph Huang, 'The Gone Room', 2024, MDF, wallpaper, 45 x 37 x 2.5 cm, courtesy of the artist
Steph Huang

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2024 at Victoria Baths

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at Victoria Baths, Manchester, 17–20 October 2024, from £7.50 - Book now

The Great Northern Contemporary Art Fair is back! Visit Victoria Baths for a showcase of work from over 200 established artists creating exquisitely crafted objects, as well as young sustainable innovations and emerging makers.

WS OF GNCCF POOL C
JO SHAW

Songs for the Storm to Come at HOME

Songs for the Storm to Come at HOME Manchester, Manchester, 12 October 2024–5 January 2025, free entry - Find Out More

Music faces the climate crisis and predictions of the future in Mikhail Karikis new, socially engaged exhibition at HOME.

Songs for the Storm to Come
HOME

40 Years of the Future: Jo McGonigal x Frank Bowling at Castlefield Gallery

40 Years of the Future: Jo McGonigal x Frank Bowling at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, 20 October 2024–2 February 2025, free entry - Find Out More

Despite creating decades apart, the work of Jo McGonigal and Frank Bowling finds common ground in a show that explores spatial relationships and architecture.

A minimalist art installation features geometric wire sculptures, a neon light in front of a black rectangle made of gesso, and two wooden doors with windows on either side in a white-walled room.
Jo McGonigal, Unsaid. So-said. Missaid. (2019) at Edinburgh College of Art. Image courtesy of the artist.

A Lifetime of Making at Sunny Bank Mills

Loretta Braganza & Sheila El-Hassani: A Lifetime of Making at Sunny Bank Mills Gallery, Leeds, Until 12 October 2024, free entry - Visit now

With decades of experience in artmaking, Loretta Braganza & Sheila El-Hassani come together to display their works in ceramics and paint.

wide angle gallery shot
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired

Igshaan Adams: Weerhoud at the Hepworth Wakefield

Igshaan Adams: Weerhoud at The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Until 3 November 2024, from £0.00 - Book now

Step into the softly opulent world of Igshaan Adams’s textiles and floating sculptures.

Large beige tapestry with intricate colourful beading hanging on a white wool
Igshaan Adams, Jaime-Lee, Dustin, 2023. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Mario Todeschini

Into The Wyld at Williamson Art Gallery & Museum

Into The Wyld at Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead, Until 21 December 2024, free entry - Visit now

One artist collective, three exhibitions, 20 artists and one medieval poem all come together to form Into The Wyld festival, a one-of-a-kind set of events exploring the legacy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, uniquely connected to the Wirral.

Graphic text reads Material Matters presents Into The Wyld a Journey into Arthuriana. All text is white, background is a green moss in which the outline of an ancient-looking caved man's face can be made out
Material Matters Collective

Is This What We Have Left? at Hyde Park Book Club

Is This What We Have Left? - Kate O’Neill, Marta Dyczkowska and James Thompson at Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, Until 19 December 2024, free entry - Visit now

Kate O’Neill, Marta Dyczkowska and James Thompson focus on place and consider the implications of losing art spaces in cities as part of rapid change and development.

Exhibition  Is This What We Have Left?  featuring never shown and new works by artists Kate O’Neill, Marta Dyczkowska and James Thompson. Show opens 19/09/2024 at our  home Hyde Park Book Club, and focused on the current dialogues we are having as creatives around space.
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired

Ian Macdonald: Fixing Time at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

Ian Macdonald: Fixing Time at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, North East, Until 3 November 2024, free entry - Visit now

Ian Macdonald has been a photographer for over five decades now and the fruits of his career are now on display in a two-venue retrospective.

Redcar Blast furnace, 2.00am Midsummer night, 1986.
Photograph. Courtesy of the artist, Ian Macdonald

Lubna Chowdhary: PLURIVERSE at Graves Gallery

Lubna Chowdhary: PLURIVERSE at Graves Gallery, Sheffield, Until 21 December 2024, free entry - Visit now

Creating a bridge between different visual languages, Lubna Chowdhary’s satisfyingly simple forms encompass the concept of the ‘multiplicity of worlds’.

Lubna Chowdhary, Re Verse, 2024. Courtesy the artist and Jhaveri Contemporary. Photo credit: Andrew Judd

R.I.P. Germain and Sara Sadik at FACT

R.I.P. Germain and Sara Sadik at FACT at FACT, Liverpool, Until 13 October 2024, free entry - Visit now

Two solo shows have landed at FACT this summer, with immersive installations incorporating digital elements from artists R.I.P. Germain and Sara Sadik.

Image of a pink room with fluffy carpet and padded walls. A projection displays a scene from a videogame. In the foreground there are two large ringed inflatables that are lit with a green light from above.
Sara Sadik, XENON PALACE CHAMPIONSHIP (2023). Installation view at FACT Liverpool. Photo by Rob Battersby

Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine at the Science and Industry Museum

Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine at Science and Industry Museum, Manchester, Until 17 November 2024, free entry - Visit now

Learn more about the process of vaccine-creation in SIM’s new exhibition all about the innovation and implementation behind the COVID-19 vaccine.

Visitor-in-Injecting-Hope-looking-at-2020-The-Sphere-that-change-the-world-by-Angela-Palmer-c-Science-Museum-Group
Image courtesy of Angela Palmer/ Science Museum Group.

Wild at Manchester Museum

Wild at Manchester Museum, Manchester, Until 1 June 2025, free entry - Visit now

Manchester Museum’s new exhibition focuses on all things wild or related to the concept of wildness. From environmental campaigns that lead to restoring ecosystems to romanticised landscape paintings, the show gathers different approaches and practices.

Wolf in Yellowstone
Jacob W. Frank

Stephen Hawking at Work at the Science and Industry Museum

Stephen Hawking at Work at Science and Industry Museum, Manchester, Until 30 September 2025, free entry - Visit now

Explore incredible objects from the world-renowned theoretical physicist’s office in this special display.

Stephen Hawking at Work
Science Museum Group - © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.

Hannah Perry: Manual Labour at Baltic

Hannah Perry: Manual Labour at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, North East, Until 15 March 2025, free entry - Visit now

Hannah Perry’s explorations of matrescence in combination with class, labour and industrial materials is a unique perspective on this still underexplored topic.

A pregnant woman standing in a mirror
Hannah Perry © Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

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Wild at Manchester Museum

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Discover the North West's best Black History Month events, including exhibitions, theatre and dance.

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Exhibitions in Manchester and the North

HOME Manchester
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HOME Manchester

Offering a packed schedule of events and things to do, HOME Manchester is one of the city’s leading hubs for arts and culture.

The Hepworth Wakefield
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Gallery
The Hepworth Wakefield

Winner of the 2017 Art Fund Museum of the Year Award, The Hepworth in Wakefield is easily one of the leading cultural highlights of the North.

The Whitworth
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The Whitworth

This much-loved gallery-in-a-park is open for business, showcasing some of the city’s finest contemporary and historic exhibitions.

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The British Music Experience

It’s a discotheque for the senses, an incredible collection of artefacts and memorabilia, audio guides, music and stories. There are iconic costumes worn by David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Dusty Springfield, the Spice Girls and Adam Ant, and musical instruments played by some of the world’s most renowned artists from Noel Gallagher to the Sex Pistols.

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