Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) will welcome back a collective of its talented Class of 2025 alumni for a striking new group exhibition, Meanwhile, a Swan Plummets to Earth, Transfixed.
Taking place in The BUG Gallery in South House, AUB Campus from Friday 29 May to Thursday 11 June, the exhibition marks an exciting "graduate takeover" of the gallery space.
The show brings together nine distinct artistic voices from BA (Hons) Fine Art and BA (Hons) Textiles Design to explore the poignant and the chaotic – navigating the shift from home, to work, to art school, and the vast art world beyond.
Exploring the themes of limbo and return, the evocative title sets the tone for a collection of works that grapple with the realities of life after graduation. From the emotional stagnation of moving back to childhood bedrooms to the clinical anxiety of modern corporate recruitment, the exhibition serves as an honest, vulnerable, and occasionally humorous window into the minds of emerging contemporary artists.
The takeover features a diverse range of mediums, including traditional hand-bound books, lino prints, repurposed-fabric banners, photography, and video installation.
“Coming back to AUB to exhibit feels like an important moment of return and reflection," says featured artist Will Sibley, who studied BA (Hons) Fine Art at the University.
“Since graduating art school last year, I have been working short, temporary roles in the art world. You can easily feel the conflict of living in limbo, caught between awe and alienation, between jobs, and between graduation and professionalism.
“This feeling was a real motivating force in keeping an artistic community alive after graduating – we really uplifted and supported each other in our practices and careers at a time of intense transition. I am so delighted we are able to exhibit the work we have made together in the space where it all began.”
Exhibiting alongside Will are fellow graduates Maria Aoyama, Archie Chesson, Jenna Davies, Amy Goodyer, Dillon Mistry, Amelia Mitchell, Yasmin Seyfollahi and Isabel Sharkey.
Members of the public, students and staff are warmly invited to the private view on Friday 29 May at 13.00 to celebrate the launch and to support the Class of 2025.
- Maria Aoyama (@mariaoyamart): Joins the dynamic collective of returning alumni showcasing new work within the space.
- Archie Chesson (@archie.folio): Subverts cold digital spaces by translating the imagery of corporate recruitment software into the domestic language of quilting with Hardly Working, a humorous commentary on a hostile job market.
- Jenna Davies (@jennafdaviesart): Habitual, a striking series of lino prints utilising folklore animal symbolism – the rabbit, bat, and fox – to depict the mundane, trapped cycles of daily routines.
- Amy Goodyer (@amyegoodyer): Presents a collection of illustrations responding to the emotional regression and immobility experienced since moving back to her childhood home on the edge of the London commuter belt.
- Dillon Mistry (@dmistry_art): Explores the concept of ‘additional context’ using traditional bookbinding techniques to treat a hand-bound paper book as a physical extension of the gallery wall.
- Amelia Mitchell (@amitchell.art): A video piece entitled Not Welcome, exploring how formally comforting spaces can become tainted by memories, inducing anxiety and avoidance, and the subsequent journey to reclaim them.
- Yasmin Seyfollahi (@yasminsartwork): Utilising Ilford black and white 35 mm film to capture raw emotion, Seyfollahi explores the powerful relationship between protest and identity concealment, inspired by the fears of prosecution faced by her Iranian relatives.
- Isabel Sharkey (@isabel.sharkey.design): Investigates displacement and grounding in All the homes I have ever lived in, contrasting blocky collage with handwritten artefacts to prove that home is built on memories and people.
- Will Sibley (@will.sibley.art): Displays a series of repurposed fabric banners titled With Stars In My Eyes, reflecting on the conflict of living in limbo between art school graduation and professional life.
