A new exhibition exploring empathy opens at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield this month.
UH Arts + Culture presents Empathy for People, Empathy for Things from October 26 to January 14, 2023, at the Art + Design Gallery in College Lane.
This group exhibition explores an important issue of our time – empathy – and what that might mean for how we relate with each other and connect to the things around us.
The exhibition includes artists who create moments to listen, reflect and connect with human and non-human stories. It features work by Andy Holden, Paul Johnson, Harold Offeh, Katie Paterson, Feral Practice and Celia Pym.
Harold Offeh’s film, Body Landscape Memory. Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Op.63 (2019), focuses on the presentation of Black bodies in the landscape.
Celia Pym trained in textiles and as a nurse. She repairs clothing and ‘things’ – an act that values the materials, the objects, and the people to which they are connected.
Pym exhibits darned socks with first one’s the best, (2015), and a new series of works of mended bags which began in lockdown.
As part of the exhibition, people can join Pym at interactive workshops in November in the Art + Design Gallery on College Lane to repair throwaway items – such as bags, cups and boxes – and contribute to a display.
Curator Elizabeth Murton said: “This exhibition provides an opportunity to reflect on our amazing and complex world, which is built on relationships, and explore empathy and our connections with fellow humans or other things that we sometimes overlook or aren’t aware of.
“The pandemic was such a different experience for many; with sadness, struggle and time to think.
"In the early days there was a sense of understanding and coming together, some people enjoyed more time with each other and in nature.
"As we now rush to get back to ‘normal’, this exhibition allows space for listening, reflecting, and resonating with each other, and other things, that form part of our worlds.”
Empathy for People, Empathy for Things runs from October 26, 2022 to January 14, 2023 at the Art + Design Gallery, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield. Admission is free. Find out more at www.uharts.co.uk
To book your space at one of Celia Pym’s art workshops on Tuesday 8, Wednesday 9 and Thursday, November 10, 11am to 3pm, at www.uharts.co.uk/whats-on/2022/workshop-with-artist-celia-pym
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