Art
Abi Palmer : Slime Mother
Free
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Why be a slug? Abi Palmer’s debut solo exhibition creates an alternate universe where, rather than treated with disgust, slugs are worshipped. Through slime, queerness, politics of space and deeply erotic, alien mating rituals, Slime Mother invites audiences to merge and connect with this complex gastropod, and embrace its resilient strangeness. Expect to leave feeling a little more slug-like….
The exhibition will be accompanied by Slugs: A Manifesto, a new publication by Palmer, published by Makina Books.
"I identify with the slug: I too have been regarded with repulsion, no more than a pest stealing spoils from the hardworking farmer. Once I allow myself space to move beyond visceral disgust and phobia, I find space for beauty, fascination and even a glistening reverence for a creature who became more disgusting as a means of survival" - Abi Palmer
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About Abi Palmer
Abi Palmer is an artist and writer. She uses film, text, sculpture and sensory intervention to explore sick bodies, viscous textures and ecological landscapes.
Works include film series Abi Palmer Invents the Weather (Artangel, 2023); book Sanatorium (Penned in the Margins, 2020); and interactive gambling arcade Crip Casino (exhibited at Tate Modern, Somerset House, Wellcome Collection and Collective Edinburgh.
Her copulating slug sculptures were selected for the Frieze Corridor Commission (2023). She is a Bloomberg New Contemporaries artist (2023); a recipient of Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Awards for Artists (2021) and Artangel’s Thinking Time award (2020). Sanatorium was shortlisted for the Barbellion Prize.
This exhibition is supported by Henry Moore Foundation, Arts Council of Wales and Arts Council England.
Chapter Gallery is open Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-5pm.
Please note the gallery will be closing at 4pm on 3 October for Abi Palmer in conversation with Nathan Smith.
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Information
Slime Mother: Access information
Watch the BSL trailer
Large print exhibition guide
Easy read exhibition guide
Exhibition
Watch the gallery tour by Abi Palmer (with captions)
Listen to the audio described tour by Shape Arts
Watch Slime Mother (2024) by Abi Palmer (with BSL)
Watch Slime Mother (2024) by Abi Palmer (with captions)
Film, digital, colour, sound. Running time 6 minutes 54 seconds
Discover more
Slugs by Abi Palmer in conversation with Bare Minimum (Lola Olufemi and Christie Costello)
Slugs by Abi Palmer in conversation with Zarina Muhammad
Slugs, Catholicism and the 'Genius Artist' with Shape Arts Podcast