Event information
Time
Faculty of Classics
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge
CB3 9DA
We do not have an entrance on the road. Find us inside the Sidgwick Site.
Admission is free, just drop in.
During the exhibition run, the Museum will be open every Saturday between Sat 1 Feb and Sat 15 March.
Mark Mann is a Norfolk-based artist who uses the seductive qualities of ceramics and textiles to explore queer identity self-expression. In this exhibition, inspired by the domestic interiors created by men in a time before the legalisation of homosexuality, floral prints, ceramic tiles and carefully curated upholstery weave through the casts, drawing out a history of queer censorship and public punishment. Together, the works use the visual language of interior decor, so often dismissed as mere window-dressing, to create a show which is equal parts beguiling and compelling.
The phrase 'a room of one's own' may have been popularised by Virginia Wolf, but the words were originally written by the writer Lytton Strachey in a love letter to the painter Dominic Grant, both members of the Bloomsbury set. These men yearned for a space which they could define on their own terms, away from the prying eyes of a hostile heteronormative world. In a time before the decriminalisation of homosexuality, domestic interiors were a canvas upon which queer individuals might curate their identity: domestic objects and decor offered a stage for queer self-expression.
Mark Mann, Acts of Gross Indecency. Cast earthenware tiles in an antique frame. Copyright: the artist.
Exhibition works are available for purchase through Gray Area Gallery.
Artist Mark Mann, standing outside his studio. Photograph: Marie-Laurence Boisvert. Copyright: the artist.
About the artist
Mark Mann is an artist who works with textile, ceramics and bronze, predominantly drawing on classical iconography and queer themes. Following a first degree in Fine Art and Psychology from ??? and an MA in Textile Design from ???, Mark studied Art Education at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. Mark's passion for textiles stems from a family history of needlework and quilting. Mark’s work juxtaposes the discomfort of queer pasts with the comfort of luxury items. Mark is especially interested in asking the viewer to confront difficult histories and challenge pre-conceived notions around homosexuality.
Mark Mann is represented by Kenza Gray, Directory of Gray Area Gallery in Norwich. Mark and Kenza have co-curated the exhibition.
