Tree & Leaf

18 Nov 2023-20 Jan 2024

PV 18 Nov 2023, 6-9.30pm

Andrew Lacon, Fuck Off, 2011, Photography. Credit: © Division of Labour, Andrew Lacon

Overview

Simon & Tom Bloor, Vanley Burke, Angelina May Davis, Mark Essen, Andrew Gillespie, Harminder Judge, Andrew Lacon, Jo Masding, Harun Morrison, Ruth Murry, Yelena Popova, Duncan Poulton, Antonio Roberts, Luke Routledge, Elizabeth Rowe, Gavin Wade, Matt Westbrook, Stuart Whipps, James Winnett, Harrison & Wood, Rafal Zar with an illustrated catalogue by Johnathan Dukes

A group show of artworks; film, sculpture, photography and painting depicting trees by artists from Birmingham and the West Midlands. The theme of the exhibition is inspired by a short story by JRR Tolkien; Leaf by Niggle. An allegory of the creative process and, to an extent, Tolkien’s own life, which follows the structure of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Around 1939 the story of Leaf by Niggle came to JRR Tolkien in a dream and was first published in the Dublin Review in January 1945. It was reprinted in Tolkien's book Tree and Leaf which is available as a gallery copy in the exhibition.