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Alys Williams

@alys_williams

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Art, language, nature, innovation 🌱✨
Consultant
Trustee @formaartsmedia
Founder @vitrinegallery (2010-24)
Walks @adorablepodenco

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The night before Frieze week!! ✨ Some shows in London that I recommend and/or am excited to see beyond the fairs …

Amar Kanwar, Serpentine North Gallery — including a new seven-screen installation, ‘The Charcoal Man’ (2026) @amarkanwar2017 @serpentineuk @chris__bayley

CJ Mahony, ‘A Void Being’, CORPUS at The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ @cj.mahony @corpusgallery_ @sadiecoleshq

Tarek Atoui, Hyundai Commission, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern @studiotarekatoui @tate

Yuyan Wang, ‘Boring Billion’, crypt of St Leonard’s (Shoreditch Church) — part of the artist’s solo show ‘Pilgrims’ at Emalin, The Clerk’s House @yuyanwang @emalinofficial

Paloma Contreras Lomas, ‘Disco Inferno’, Gasworks @lirio_cobra @gasworkslondon

Jenkin van Zyl, ‘Enclosure’, Somerset House Studios @jenkinvanzyl @somersethousestudios

Mark Leckey, ‘The Last Leg of the Final Eschaton’, St Chads, King’s Cross @mark.leckey @stchadsprojects

‘This Is Still Not a Pipe: The Afterlife of Magritte’, Gagosian Grosvenor Hill @gagosian

Cindy Sherman, ‘Fabric Matrons’, Hauser & Wirth London @cindyshermanlegacyproject @hauserwirth

Laura Ford, series of works, Annoushka’s Studio, Sloane Square and outdoor sculpture at Dulwich Picture Gallery @laura_ford_sculpture @annoushkajewellery @dulwichgallery

Muscle Memory, a joint exhibition at Copperfield with: Rafal Zajko from Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm
Aziza Kadyri from eastcontemporary, Milan
Li Li Ren from Magician Space, Beijing
Anna Gonzalez Noguchi from Vacancy, Shanghai
Narges Mohammadi & Luana Vitra from Copperfield, London @copperfield_london @rafal_zajko @coulisse_gallery @galleryvacancy @eastcontemporary @magicianspace

‘3 Evenings’ Saturday: ‘Experiments in Performance and Technology’, Somerset House Studios at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station — new live performances by Holly Blakey & Tai Shani, Team Rolfes, and Gary Zhexi Zhang with Klara Kofen & Cameron Graham, plus a new commissioned intervention by Nina Davies & Zein Majali
@hollytblakey @taishani @team.rolfes @garyzhexizhang @influential_bro @zeinxmajali

#friezelondon #friezelondon2026 taken in London, United Kingdom by @alys_williams

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2 days ago

Last week at Drawing Room, a wonderful group exhibition opened titled ‘Listening to the earth’, curated by Hammad Nasar and bringing together an intergenerational group of 10 artists who work with the earth as both subject and material.

Participating artists include David Alesworth, Mohammad Alfaraj, Emii Alrai, Ali Kazim, Mary Lemley, David Nash, Abigail Reynolds, Ro Robertson, Tanoa Sasraku and Anwar Jalal Shemza.

“The artists in Listening to the earth explore this terrain action-oriented approaches to ‘listening’; walking on, handling and working with the earth – and what comes from it – is important to their heterogenous methods of making.”

@drawingroomlondon @hammad_nasar_8
@emiialrai @abigailreynoldsartist @marylemley1 @mohammadalfaraj @davidofnash @ro_robertson_
Work in the show supported by @knotenpunkt.art

#listeningtotheearth #HammadNasar #drawingroom by @alys_williams

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15 days ago

Rudy Loewe’s ‘Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility’ at Wellcome Collection reimagines a mental healthcare system that is equitable and supportive, through a network of sculptures, paintings, text-based work and sound. As ever with Loewe’s work, there’s incredible attention to detail in the research and every part of the exhibition design and audience experience.

Loewe is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is shaped by resistance histories, African and Caribbean folklore, and a commitment to community and accessibility.

Very moving and poignant work. It felt particularly so as I left a routine appointment next door at UCLH, where I’ve been so grateful and privileged to receive lifesaving healthcare in my lifetime.

#rudyloewe #wellcomecollection #IntimaciesofCare #londonexhibitions @rudyloewe @wellcomecollection @madeleinejkennedy taken in Wellcome Collection by @alys_williams

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22 days ago

Magical late summer memories from Sardinia. At Su Gologone, in a severe and surprising stretch of the east of the island, where mountains and gorges meet turquoise sea and isolated coves. We found a place to stay, eat and experience, full of beautiful embroidery, ceramics, gardens, and culinary tradition 🌵🌊🚤🥘💫

Founded as a restaurant in 1967, then becoming a hotel in the 70s because guests didn't want to leave (many in the area from Hollywood to film), and now run by the daughter of its founder, a hotelier and artist, it shines of the love for Sardinia in everything. @hotelsugologone

We took a boat from Cala Gonone, hiked into Gorropu, Europe's largest canyon, visited Nuraghe scattered across the countryside and sacred wells dating back to the 8th century BC, under a full moon! 🌕✨

… then south for some beach time. Grateful for a wonderful long bank holiday and end to August, and sharing this delayed post before diving further into lots of new activities!

#Sardinia #Sardenga #CalaGonone #SuGologone #Gorropu taken in Sardinia by @alys_williams

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a month ago

Delighted to visit Kate MacGarry’s pop-up gallery in Rye on Friday, with a exquisite show ‘The Air of Ideas’ 🌊✨ It followed our visits to Towner Gallery Eastbourne, where Cecilia Fiona has brilliant new work in her solo exhibition, ‘Spirals Gathering, Time Breathing’ 🌀💫 and in Hastings at Hastings Contemporary where there’s a great ‘Moore / Freud’ pairing, and lunch with George at Amici studio 💭💙

A really enjoyable art jaunt along the long coastline, from West to East Sussex, in great company with Andrew and Laura. Following another studio visit and lunch hosted at Matt Black Barn on Thursday.

Only wish I’d brought my swimming costume for a dip in the lake, and sea along the way!

📷 1 - 4 Kate MacGarry, Rye, East Sussex
2 - Rose Finn-Kelcey, The Restless Image: a discrepancy between the same position and the felt position, 1975

📷 5-7 Bruce Bernard, Lucian Freud Posing as a Henry Moore, 1983. Henry Moore, Shelter Drawing (Mother and Child with Reclining Figures), 1941 Hastings Contemporary. Andrew and Laura on the seafront, Hastings, East Sussex

📷 8-9 Cecilia Fiona, Spirals Gathering, Time Breathing, 2026. Ithell Colquhoun, Dance of the Nine Opals, 1942, Towner Gallery Eastbourne, East Sussex

📷 10-12 Matt Black Barn, West Sussex

#sussex #katemacgarry #hastingscontemporary #townergallery #mattblackbarn @katemacgarry @rosefinnkelcey @hastings.contemporary @kathleen.soriano @amici__art @townergallery @cecilia_fiona @noelle_collins_insta @mattblackbarn @andrewsabinsculpture @laura_ford_sculptur taken in Sussex, England by @alys_williams

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2 months ago

Grateful to be part of a conversation that’s going to keep evolving 🌱

Thank you @annyleshaw for a piece that looks at developments in the artworld with curiosity and positivity — something we need more of.

As I evolve this area of my advisory work, I’m asking lots of questions about where new labels sit on the spectrum of change and what sustainability looks like in this changing ecosystem. As the piece shares, my consultancy work is strategic, relational, and without replicating the traditional gallery structure.

Repost • @theartnewspaper.official An A-Z of organisations and individuals that offer professional services to artists beyond traditional gallery representation.

Tap the link in our bio to read more. by @alys_williams

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2 months ago

Working with Laura Ford and Andrew Sabin these past months has been a wonderful opportunity to bring together my interests in sculpture, environment and innovation. They are visionaries — not only through their sculpture practices, but through the place, community and sharing they’ve built around it: Matt Black Barn, home to the artist couple, their studios, a Community Interest Company running a learning programme, and a 15-acre natural habitat.

Whilst advising on the development of MBB, I keep coming back to how much of what they’ve built happens well beyond their own practices, and how this in turn inspires their making. It’s in how open the place is — for looking, for exchange, for learning, for the appreciation of growing and making.

I appreciate the love of texture here — hard to capture in photos, or to describe until you’ve stood in it. It’s in the way the grounds are shaped and rewilded, the buildings, and inside and around them the texture of sculpture, materials, works in progress.

For this next chapter, we’re looking for a Studio Manager to join their team — a great opportunity for someone looking to relocate to a rural setting and become integral to a busy studio and its wider vision.

Link to job spec in @mattblackbarn bio.
DM me if you have questions.

📷 Laura Ford, Dancing Clog Girls, in the meadow at Matt Black Barn
📷 Laura Ford, portrait in her studio (by @akpurkiss )
📷 Andrew Sabin, portrait in his studio
📷 Andrew Sabin, The Puff of the Pastry, in the woodland at Matt Black Barn
📷 Visitors at Matt Black Barn, West Sussex
📷 Matt Black Barn, West Sussex
All taken on greener days 🌱

#MattBlackBarn #StudioLife #ContemporarySculpture #WestSussex @laura_ford_sculpture @andrewsabinsculpture taken in Chichester, West Sussex by @alys_williams

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2 months ago

Something special in the air, down by the river ☀️🌕🌑✨ — part 2

These wonderful photos arrived in my email this morning — taken by Xuanchen Liu, who I met sat next to me on the Thames Path yesterday evening, watching with his camera and a makeshift filter lens.

There was something particularly special about the conversations and laughter between strangers during that hour — in a city where we so rarely speak to people we don’t know. Gave me a feeling of hope that’s not been around much lately.

#eclipse #eclipselondon #eclipse2026 taken in Thames River, London by @alys_williams

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2 months ago

Something special in the air, down by the river ☀️🌕🌑✨

#eclipse #eclipselondon #eclipse2026 taken in Bermondsey by @alys_williams

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2 months ago

With that make-free holiday look, having had a gorgeous Provençal fortnight, and feeling energised now to get back to exciting new projects and opportunities ahead!

Les Alpilles en Provence — a place that has become a home away from home, for over two decades — keeps on offering the most incredible memories and plates of food, including here at Le Relais du Castelet, just outside Arles, where produce from the Mas Le Castelet gardens, grounds and surroundings finds its way directly, inventively and intuitively onto the table each day.

#provence #holidayglow #lesalpilles #lerelaisducastelet @lerelaisducastelet taken in Le Relais du Castelet by @alys_williams

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2 months ago

A wonderful pause from the Provençal sun to be immersed in these two brilliant multimedia installations; visions, poems and soundscapes. Magic ✨

Julianknxx and Soundwalk Collective & Patti Smith at LUMA Arles — two stunning multimedia exhibitions, each a response to the Camargue; a place shaped by salt, water, myth and environmental change. Two very different voices, each asking how we hold onto what matters and pass it on.

Julianknxx’s ‘In Search of… Incredible’ — an extraordinary combination of sculpture, sound, film and found objects form a living architecture of memory, with salt running through the work as both material and metaphor, and a sustained exchange between the artist and his mother in The Gambia.

Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith’s ‘CORRESPONDENCES’ — drawn from a decade-long dialogue, an immersive installation in La Grande Halle (best building at LUMA!) field recordings, film, sound, and poetry come together, conjuring the landscapes where artistic creation, scientific imagination, and political struggle are set against the fragility of the natural world.

@luma_arles #Julianknxx #SoundwalkCollective #PattiSmith #LUMAarles Camargue @julianknxx @thisispattismith @soundwalkcollective taken in LUMA Arles by @alys_williams

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3 months ago

Brilliant exhibition of Ana Mendieta opened at Tate Modern this evening — couldn’t get enough of this show.

The first in-depth UK show of her work in over ten years, it shines a light on Mendieta’s trailblazing practice and reinforces her standing as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Her ephemeral works were recorded as photographs and films, embracing her deep relationship with the natural world, including the Silueta Series — exploring the presence and absence of the human body through natural materials including sand, fire, water and flowers. She created a cast-iron mould of her hand, heating it to burn her handprint into objects and landscapes — marks reminiscent of prehistoric paintings.

Must see! ✨

#AnaMendieta #TateModern #ephemeralart @tate @anamendietaartist taken in Tate Modern by @alys_williams

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3 months ago