Poor Things

Fruitmarket Segments

Poor Things was an exhibition of sculptures made by 22 artists, working across the UK, shown at Fruitmarket in spring 2023. It was born out of conversations about art and social class that Emma Hart and Dean Kenning had together, both as friends and as artists.

Emma and Dean’s hope for Poor Things was that it might reveal the multiplicity of experiences of artists whose work speaks to working and lower-middle class backgrounds, whilst identifying points of commonality.

Details on Poor Things can be found at the Fruitmarket online archive.

In May 2023, Emma, Dean and Fruitmarket director Fiona Bradley spoke with in front of a live audience, with a number of the contributing artists joining via Zoom. They all discussed the show, their experiences and launched the exhibition catalogue, which is still available to buy online from the Fruitmarket bookshop

Along with Emma and Dean, the artists who appeared at the event were Linda Aloysius, John Beagles and Graham Ramsay, Joseph Buckley, Andrew Cooper, Jamie Cooper, Lee Holden, Josie Ko, Rebecca Moss, Janette Parris, Anne Ryan, Aled Simons, and Laura Yuile.

A film of this event is available on the Fruitmarket YouTube channel.

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