Angletwich, 2021
Tramway, Glasgow
Tramway presented the first solo exhibition in Scotland by Flo Brooks, realised in partnership with Brighton CCA, with Art Fund support.
The title of the show, Angletwich, took its name from a Devonshire dialect term for a worm used in fishing bait, but had evolved to describe a fast moving creature or child. It spoke to the frenetic layering of people and activity within the works as well as recurrent motifs of migration and the makeshift.
In weaving together this semi autobiographical narrative of queer and trans experience, Brooks turned to the rural South West England where he grew up and in particular its marginalised spaces and communities. These new works centred on a series of rural archetypes; from the livestock fair and the post office, to a lonely bus stop, generating a simultaneous sense of familiarity and isolation.
Each work in the exhibition was part of a wider whole; depicting characters, scenes and places which together developed a critical narrative of place and queer experience in Britain. The installation mirrored the environments found within the work, creating a dramatic context to more closely connect the world of Brooks' painting with the experience of encountering them.
Photos by Keith Hunter.