My Inner Landscape
20.09-03.10
Brian Searle’s first solo exhibition, ‘My Inner Landscape’, brings to life his reflections on art, mental health and his journey of brain injury.
Opening Thurs 19.09 (6-8pm)
Tues 24.09 (10-1pm)
Thurs 26.09 (4-7pm)
Tues 10.01 (2-5pm - meet the artist)
Closing Thurs 03.10 (4-7pm - meet the artist)
Viewing by appointment at other times please email rsvp@periscope.uk
I sit here locked inside my head. Glazed ceramic sculpture
Brian works across multiple mediums including ceramics, stitch, drawing, plaster, sculpture and prints. Through his body of work, he shares and reflects upon his ongoing experiences of depression, anxiety, delirium and night terror, while creating a sense of purpose and space for hope through intricate details and a precise use of colour.
“Art gives me an opportunity to get my emotions out and show them to the audience like a landscape. It helps to release all that energy and tautness.”
My Monster Dream. Glazed ceramic sculpture
My Monster Dream. Glazed ceramic sculpture
The body of work was made between 2020-2024 in response to two seismic events in Brian’s life: his traumatic brain injury aged 16, and becoming critically unwell with Covid in March 2020. For Brian, art serves as a memory aid, a way of documenting his life. It is also a form of therapy and a way to express himself.
“It's a bit like having a seizure and you're all sort of twisted. It goes really deep into what I'm feeling. Hopefully the viewer can see what lies beneath this skin.”
Delirium: Is this me or not me? Glazed ceramic sculpture
After leaving school aged 12, Brian worked as a carpenter and after his brain injury studied for a BA in Fine Art at London Metropolitan University, focusing on screen printing. In 2006, he became a volunteer and art technician at Submit to Love Studios, a collective of artists living with brain injury.
“This is my zest for life – being there for the studio members. They give me confidence and I give them confidence. That’s the nice thing about it, it’s not one-sided.”
Me! Pen drawing on paper
Submit to Love Studios is home to a group of artists living with brain injury. They work collectively in an open studio environment and help bring out the best in each other. For the artists, the act of making is an empowering and hopeful act. In making something, they discover new gifts, new cultures, new connections and new identities. Their mission is “discovery through art”, art that is by everyone, for everyone. All artists are members of Headway East London in Hackney, a local charity supporting brain injury survivors, their families and carers.
Microscope is Periscope’s investigative space for talking, thinking and testing natural processes, curated by Kirsty Badenoch in 2024.
