Presented in BACKLIT’s new ground-floor gallery, Lands of Uncertain Shape brings together the imagined worlds of Xin Chen and T’kya Xavier.

Exhibition Preview

Date: Friday 06 November 18:00 – 20:00

Exhibition Continues:

Dates: 07 November - 28 November
Days: Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Times: 10:00 – 16:00

Location:

Ground Floor, Gallery 1
BACKLIT, Alfred House, Ashley Street, Nottingham, NG3 1JG

Lands of Uncertain Shape brings together the imagined worlds of Xin Chen and T’kya Xavier.

Working across ceramics, painting, collage, textiles, film and performance, the artists use materials to explore personal experiences. Memories, dreams and feelings take shape through colour, form and storytelling. Their distinct approaches meet through a shared interest in imagination and play.

Chen draws on memories of growing up in a hilly urban Chinese landscape. Elements of nature, architecture, craft and language appear throughout their ceramics, paintings and collages. Familiar surroundings are reimagined through fluid shapes and combinations of colour. Experiences of living across cultures inform this process, bringing together memories of different places and moments in time. Taoist ideas of spontaneous action guide Xin’s approach to making, with materials encountered by chance often becoming starting points for new work. Xavier develops narratives through found and recycled fabrics. These take shape as textiles and extend into film and performance, where characters and stories emerge through materials, gesture and movement. Their work draws on experiences of queerness, mental health and belonging. Humour and play offer ways to explore and express the feelings connected to these experiences.

The exhibition’s title suggests worlds that are still taking shape. Forms move between abstract shapes and recognisable figures, leaving space for different readings. Connections in colour and material bring the works into conversation. A collaborative work gives the artists a further opportunity to explore how their approaches meet.

Presented in BACKLIT’s new ground-floor gallery, the exhibition includes new commissions supported by FABRIC, continuing the legacy of Rendezvous in supporting queer people in the arts in Nottingham.