Dora House, 108 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 3RA
9 October – 24 November 2023

Making Together is the result of a brand new collaboration between Art et al. X Royal Society of Sculptors, an innovative collaborative programme and inclusive exhibition featuring artists working from UK supported studios, alongside their artistic peers, members of the Royal Society of Sculptors.

The exhibition features the work created during two peer-to-peer collaborations. Thompson Hall, an artist with ActionSpace in London, has been working with Simone Kennedy MRSS while Leslie Thompson, an artist with Venture Arts in Manchester, has been collaborating with Eleni Maragaki MRSS. They have spent the last four months visiting each other’s studios, meeting on Zoom, and feeling their way towards something that is unreachable within the confines of their individual practices. Making Together represents a desire to support and facilitate dialogue between neurodivergent and learning disabled artists from UK supported studios and the Royal Society of Sculptors. The aim was to foster a richer, more diverse visual art infrastructure that challenges expectations and traverses boundaries.

The photograph above right shows the four artists taken by Mike Glide Photography at the launch event – left to right: Simone, Thompson, Leslie and Eleni.

Click here to read the exhibition essay from Jes Fernie.

The exhibition runs from 9 October to 24 November 2023
Monday to Friday from 11.00am - 5.00pm, plus Saturdays 12pm- 5pm in October only

Early/late relaxed openings
Designed for neurodivergent and autistic children and adults, and those who may face difficulties visiting at busier times: Monday 16 October 5-7pm, Saturday 28 October 9-11am, Tuesday 7 November 9-11am

Further information on access for the venue can be found on the Royal Society of Sculptors website here.

With warm thanks to Hallett Independent Ltd and Sadie Sherman Gallery for supporting this exhibition.

Press Release

Here are a selection of installation photographs from the exhibition. The first eight photos show the collaboration between Leslie Thompson (Venture Arts) and Eleni Maragaki MRSS, with the second eight photos showing the collaboration between Thompson Hall (ActionSpace) and Simone Kennedy MRSS.
Photographs by Mike Glide Photography, October 2023.

Events

Artists in Conversation

Wednesday 18 October, 6:30–7:45pm
Lisa Slominski and Jennifer Lauren of Art et al, curators of Making Together, will lead a conversation with exhibiting artists on their experience of collaborating with one another: Simone Kennedy MRSS, Thompson Hall, Eleni Maragaki MRSS, and Leslie Thompson. This is a free event, book your place below.

Discussion around neurodiversity and creative practice

Wednesday 15 November, 6:30–8pm | Discussion with Sonia Boué, Isobel Smith and Natasha Trotman
Join us on Wednesday 15 November from 6:30-8pm to learn an overview of what neurodiversity means, and to hear from three neurodivergent creatives about their individual practices. Chaired by Jennifer Gilbert of Art et al., Sonia Boué, Isobel Smith and Natasha Trotman each share their processes and experiences, including adaptations they feel are required to sustain their practice today. This is a hybrid event, with one of the speakers appearing from their home, and time for questions at the end. This is a free event, book your place below.

The full video from the artists in conversation event, from 18 October 2023. The first half is a conversation between Jennifer, Leslie and Eleni. The second half is a conversation between Lisa, Thompson and Simone. The whole thing is 1hr 11 mins long. Press ‘CC’ to get the subtitles on the screen.

Leslie Thompson X Eleni Maragaki
Fantastic animals, jungles and mountains from Africa, Greece and beyond

With a practice dedicated to drawing and ceramic making from his imagination and memories of popular culture over the years, Leslie Thompson has helped steer this collaboration into looking at and discussing African animals, their habitats, and landscapes more broadly. In contrast, Eleni Maragaki’s practice is rooted in the natural or urban environment, working delicately across drawing and sculptural objects in a myriad of materials and with precise detail. She has shared with Leslie cultural references related to her home country of Greece, and together they have created new worlds and learnt new techniques. Fantastic animals, jungles and mountains from Africa, Greece and beyond showcases drawings, ceramics, spring flower folded books and flag books, as well as an interactive puzzle made from linocut prints. A dinosaur even makes an appearance!

Leslie Thompson is an artist working out of Venture Arts Studios in Manchester, who has completed several commissions and murals including for LADbible and has recently been commissioned by the Government Art Collection to create new artwork for the Coronation of King Charles III. Eleni Maragaki MRSS studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (2013-2018) and has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, London (2022) as a recipient of the Mona Hatoum Bursaries Award. She was shortlisted for the First Plinth: Public Art Award (2023) and has just completed an Art for the Environment Residency (UAL) at Mahler and Lewitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy.

Thompson Hall X Simone Kennedy
Absence/Presence

Inspired by inequalities in society, Thompson Hall’s practice often implements brightly designed symbols and graphic icons to express his observations of the world around him. His concerns around social change and marginalisation created immediate synergy with collaborating artist, Simone Kennedy, whose multi-media practice centres around the human condition, re-imagining the realms of being human. They connected deeply over the meanings of ‘absence’ and ‘presence’ in personal and political ways. Absence/Presence explores personal identity, in particular the experience of growing up without a father figure, and broadens to consider the relationship between identity and the home. Each artist explored father figures with a shared departure point of men’s suits, and The Sanctuary (2023), a large tent-like sculpture, made collaboratively, brings to the forefront the societal issue of homelessness.

Thompson Hall is an artist working out of ActionSpace in London. In 2022, he was the first artist-in-residence at Autograph, resulting in a public billboard display of his paintings on Autograph’s exterior on Rivington Place in London. Simone Kennedy MRSS received her PhD in Visual Arts from the University of South Australia (2015) and recent achievements include being a finalist for the Mosman Art Prize NSW 2022, and visiting a.i.r. at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. In 2023, she was selected for the Royal Society of Sculptors summer show, “The Shape of Life”.

Thank you to all who came to the launch event on Saturday 7 October for Making Together. Here are a selection of photographs taken by Mike Glide Photography.

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