RIPPED: An exhibition by Helen Davies and Wendy Roby

In late 2023, we launched our Exhibition Opportunity open call. We invited submissions from solo artists or groups to propose an exhibition for in our Mill 1 Gallery space, offering to organise, curate and support the artists. We had some fantastic applications and were overwhelmed by the standard and variety for our first open call. The application we selected was a joint exhibition from Helen Davies and Wendy Roby, exploring female strength in a multimedia way.

The exhibition was installed at the start of February 2024 and we hosted the Preview evening on Thursday 8th Feb!

The work presented in the exhibition was an exploration of female strength: both literal, physical and domestic. It featured knit, print, illustrative artworks and collage that took inspiration from wrestling, strong women and popular culture.

Helen’s work was concerned with tattoos as folk art and talismans of strength. Prior to the exhibition she had been requesting images of people’s tattoos that represented strength in some way, and using these to create a giant hulking suit of tattooed muscles. Helen presented the (in progress) piece suspended from the ceiling, which courageously welcomed visitors as they first entered the exhibition.

Helen also exhibited an array of smaller textile pieces, some crochet, some knit. The pieces mixed the images of ‘an archetypal Victorian strongwoman with a peeved woman in 2024 who just wants to go about her life in a red cossie without being harangued all the time’, resulting in a totally unapologetic corner of textile curiosities.

Wendy’s work focussed around a minor obsession with Jill Capes (the wife of strong man, Geoff Capes). She brought to life the (part imagined) experiences of Jill, who was responsible for feeding Geoff his enormous diet back in the 1970s. The 1976 BBC Archive footage which interviewed Jill and Geoff was featured in the exhibition and shed light on the references throughout Wendy’s work. Through a selection of print, collage and drawing she fantasised about the life of Jill and the life she hoped for her.

Wendy also took inspiration from the 1970s wrestler Big Daddy and formed her own alter-ego BIG MUMMY ‘who battles against the budget squeezes of austerity Britain’. Large scale hand made posters made from natural inks boasted phrases like ‘watch Big Mummy wrangle with the big four’s complex pricing strategies and impenetrable packaging options as she bodyslams inherited parenting trauma’ - of course this particular piece sold on the opening night.

Both Wendy’s and Helen’s work was presented against a sickly pink paint job, chosen to specifically replicate the meaty pink of Geoff Capes’ diet and unify the 2 women’s collections.

The exhibition was curated by Luca Shaw (Studio Creative Director) in collaboration with the artists.

You can follow the work of Wendy Roby on her website - robyworkshop.com

You can follow the work of Helen Davies via her instagram @helendavies_yarnartist

We will launch our Exhibition Opportunity open call every year, keep an eye on our opportunities page. Alternatively, if you’d like to enquire about exhibition space email luca@1853studios.co.uk