ARTS & EXHIBITIONS

STATE OF THE ART

Peggy Ahwesh: Vision Machines, Spike Island Art Gallery, until 16 January

Vision Machines is the first survey exhibition in the UK by American artist Peggy Ahwesh. Curated in collaboration with London-based scholar Erika Balsom, the exhibition includes single-channel films and video installations made between 1993 and 2021. Since the early 1980s, Peggy Ahwesh has forged a distinctive moving image practice in the ruins of originality and authority.

Whether by working with non-professional performers, especially children, or by repurposing existing images – such as the video game Tomb Raider, or computeranimated news coverage – Ahwesh embraces improvisatory strategies that probe the critical potential of play. Focusing on a selection of works that explore the relationship between the body and the technologized image, the exhibition at Spike

Island spans issues and ideas as diverse as gender, climate change and war.

• spikeisland.org.uk

Image: Peggy Ahwesh, Vision Machines (2021). Installation view, Spike Island, Bristol. Courtesy of the artist and Microscope Gallery, New York. Photograph by Max McClure

Winter Exhibition, Clifton Contemporary, throughout January

Erupting with colour, light, texture and form, Clifton Contemporary has made sure its winter exhibition is a festival for art lovers: a celebration for midwinter and the future. Throughout January, the gallary is featuring a selection of new work by exciting gallery artists, from the mesmerising original prints of Chuck Elliott, to the elegant, timeless bronzes by Julian Cox, the atmospheric land and seascapes of Hannah

Woodman, the intense layered abstracts of Ellie Preston and the textured ceramics by Trevor Lillistone.

• cliftoncontemporaryart.co.uk

Image: Ascension by Chuck Elliott, 100x100cm, metallic lambda photographic print mounted behind plexiglass and laser cut to shape

Wildlife Photographer of the Year, M Shed, throughout January

On loan from the Natural History Museum in London, Wildlife Photographer of the Year – the most prestigious photography event of its kind – showcases exceptional images of animal behaviour, spectacular species, and the breath-taking diversity of the natural world. This year’s competition saw a record-breaking number of entries from professional and amateur photographers from 95 countries. Each entry was judged anonymously on its creativity, originality, and technical excellence by an international panel of industry experts. The exhibition will be on display at M Shed until 5 June before embarking on an international tour.

• Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London; bristolmuseums.org.uk

Coming Up for Air: Stephen Gill –A Retrospective, Arnolfini, until 16 January

Arnolfini is currently celebrating over thirty years of extraordinary practice from Bristol-born photographer Stephen Gill, drawing together new previously un-exhibited work, alongside works from other iconic series including Hackney Flowers, Buried, Talking to Ants, Night Procession, Pigeons, Coexistence and Coming up for Air. Also featuring the first UK presentation of images from award winning photographic series and book The Pillar, the exhibition will explore Gill’s rich sense of place, leading us through the flea markets and towpaths of Hackney Wick in London, to his current rural surroundings amidst the Swedish countryside. Free entry. Exhibition slots bookable in advance. Walk-ins may be available on the day.

• arnolfini.org.uk

Image: From The Pillar 2015 – 2019 © Stephen Gill