‘Working the Earth/The Working Earth’ focuses on the earth as a productive and life-sustaining force, and the symbiotic relationship between earth and human in the process of cultivation.

Launch Event // Tuesday 31 July 6 – 8pm ALL WELCOME

Opening Times // Wednesday to Saturday 12 – 6pm & Sunday 12 – 4pm

**Please note the gallery will be closed on Saturday 4 August due to the Pride Parade**

Central to the show is the documentation of a meal created by artists Ève Chabanon and Theo Shields with the Whitehawk Community Food Project in Brighton and the Growing Together Community Garden in Newhaven. The artists undertook a number of early visits in order to meet the communities, develop an understanding of the particular context of each garden, and build connections. This resulted in a proposal for a 24-hour performance across both gardens. The event will include the creation of all the paraphernalia needed for the meal itself, working with the communities to fashion utensils, crockery and furniture, as well as sourcing ingredients from both gardens, thereby both slowing down and expanding daily rituals of eating, and forging new collaborations across the two sites.

From the community garden to larger-scale food and crop production: John Newling and Aurélie Sement have both undertaken residencies on arable farms in Normandy as part of diep~haven 2018 and their works are also included in this exhibition. In addition, historic photographs by artist and gardener Gertrude Jekyll create a reflective counterpoint on how the distance between hand and earth has, in many cases, lengthened since the turn of the 20th century, when Gertrude Jekyll was designing and tending her gardens.

Image credit: Gertrude Jekyll