UNWANTED FLESH (2024)

This exhibition opening in September is the first major presentation of work by Delphi Campbell, a young artist, and winner of the 2023 MADE Summer Art Prize.

With funding from the Arts Council of Wales, Delphi has spent the last 6 months in a studio in Roath, Cardiff, creating the differing elements that will form a gallery takeover formed of individually crafted elements into a giant tactile nest, a fleshy, pink iteration which forms more than the sum of their parts.

Delphi’s relationship with chronic illness is at the core of her work. Sickness and queerness align, allowing her to embrace multiple illnesses in the form of what superficially appears as fun and frivolous, but is a more radical challenge in confronting the narrative of living in an othered body, and ideas of being 'normal'.

Yr arddangosfa hon, sy’n agor ym mis Medi yw cyflwyniad sylweddol cyntaf o waith Delphi Campbell, artist ifanc, ac enillydd Gwobr Gelf Haf MADE 2023.

Gyda nawdd gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, mae Delphi wedi treulio’r 6 mis diwethaf mewn stiwdio yn y Rhath, Caerdydd yn creu’r amryw elfennau fydd yn cymryd drosodd yr oriel. Bydd y greadigaeth wedi ffurfio o elfennau unigol wedi eu crefftio mewn i un nyth enfawr, cnawdlyd a phinc, sy’n ffurfio mwy na swm eu rhannau.

Mae perthynas Delphi gyda salwch cronig wrth wraidd ei gwaith. Mae salwch a’r cwiar yn cydfynd, yn ei galluogi i ymfalchïo sawl salwch yn ffurf beth sy’n ymddangos yn arwynebol ysgafn a hwyliog, ond sydd yn sialens fwy radical i wynebu’r naratif o fyw mewn corff arall a’r syniad o fod yn ‘normal’.

Working from drawings Campbell creates 3D soft sculptural panels, which reflect the unique characteristics of each of her specific conditions. The starting point, being her own medical micrographs - photographs taken through a microscope, which are then interpreted in 3D, using recycled clothing, mosaic, fake fur and a lot of ingenuity.

With the colours turned up, like a pop up exploded self, her insides are literally made flesh, each texture becoming a friendly equivalent of degenerating or inflamed parts of her body at a cellular level.

There are also paintings, 3D wall mounted objects and sculptures made of domestic furniture, where Delphi has created ‘interventions’ to become altered bodies, metamorphosed into other versions, or proxy bodies like hers - bejewelled and resplendently diseased.

Gan weithio o luniadau mae Campbell yn creu paneli cerfluniol meddal 3D, sy'n adlewyrchu nodweddion unigryw pob un o'i hamodau penodol. Y man cychwyn, sef ei micrograffau meddygol ei hun - ffotograffau a dynnwyd trwy ficrosgop, sydd wedyn yn cael eu dehongli mewn 3D, gan ddefnyddio dillad wedi'u hailgylchu, mosaig, ffwr ffug a llawer o ddyfeisgarwch.

Trwy gyfrwng lliwiau ffrwydrol, mae ei thu mewn yn llythrennol wedi'i wneud yn gnawd, gyda phob gwead yn cyfateb i rannau o'i chorff sy'n dirywio neu'n llidus ar lefel gellog.

Mae yna hefyd baentiadau, gwrthrychau 3D wedi’u gosod ar wal a cherfluniau wedi’u gwneud o ddodrefn domestig, lle mae Delphi wedi creu ‘ymyriadau’ i ddod yn gyrff wedi’u haddasu, wedi’u trosi’n fersiynau eraill, neu’n gyrff dirprwyol – yn wefreiddiol ac yn heintus iawn.

Each component has been pre made, then patchworked together during a three week install in the gallery - with panels and folds creating channels, lumps and ‘veins’, to form a sense of organic growth. There are moving elements, as if the parts are breathing, with body sounds, ripples, and pulse. Her aim is to confront and question the way disabled people are represented, as if untouchable.

Campbell invites the opposite - presenting a friendly, up-close view of life inside a different kind of body, one which may appear constricted, in terms of functions that are taken for granted, like being able to stand up for hours. Her queer sensibility provides a bright and celebratory take on being disabled, one that makes friends with her pain, like a bright sparkly offer, it is a joyous grasping of her situation that is radical, brave and most definitely necessary.

It’s fun, fluffy tactileness is about giving these parts of her body a voice, even the ‘ill’ bits, the conventionally undesirable, and to give it appeal, becoming sexy.

Mae pob cydran wedi’i gwneud ymlaen llaw, yna eu clytweithio gyda’i gilydd yn ystod gosodiad tair wythnos yn yr oriel – gyda phaneli a phlygiadau’n creu sianeli, lympiau a ‘gwythiennau’, i ffurfio ymdeimlad o dyfiant organig. Mae yna elfennau symudol, fel pe bai'r rhannau'n anadlu, gyda synau'r corff, crychdonnau, a phyls. Ei nod yw wynebu a chwestiynu'r ffordd y mae pobl anabl yn cael eu cynrychioli, fel pe na bai modd eu cyffwrdd.

Mae Campbell yn gwahodd y gwrthwyneb - gan gyflwyno golwg gyfeillgar, agos o fywyd y tu mewn i fath gwahanol o gorff, un a all ymddangos yn gyfyngedig, o ran yr hyn a gymerir yn ganiataol, fel gallu sefyll i fyny am oriau. Mae ei synwyrusrwydd cwiar yn rhoi golwg ddisglair a dathliadol ar fod yn anabl, un sy'n gwneud ffrindiau â'i phoen, fel ymdeimlad disglair, mae'n taflu golau ar ei sefyllfa sy'n radical, yn ddewr ac yn bendant yn angenrheidiol.

Mae’n hwyl, mae cyffyrddiadau yn ymwneud â rhoi llais i’r rhannau hyn o’i chorff, hyd yn oed y darnau ‘sâl’, yr hyn sy’n annymunol yn gonfensiynol, gan roi apêl iddo, gan ddod yn rhywiol.

SATURDAY 12.10.24 - MEET THE ARTIST DeLPHI CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

Meet the artist Delphi Campbell / with bilingual translation via live guide.

Cwrdd â’r artist Delphi Campbell / gyda chyfieithu

dwyieithog drwy dywysydd byw

EVENT PAGE

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

Rag rugging workshops with Delphi, using scrap material to make your own textile piece. All materials provided.

Creu mat cerpyn gyda Delphi, defnyddio deunyddiau sgrap i greu eich darn tecstilau eich hun Darparir deunyddiau.

BOOK A SPACE

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

Meet the artist Delphi Campbell with a live performance from artist Charlie Lockwood.

Dewch i gwrdd â'r artist Delphi Campbell gyda pherfformiad byw gan yr artist Charlie Lockwood.

PERFORMANCE TICKET

SUNDAY 27.10.24 ARTIST TALK & DISCUSSION OF IDEAS

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

Delphi Campbell, Zoe Gingell and writer Poppy Jones Little discuss the

ideas behind the show.

Delphi Campbell, Zoe Gingell a’r ysgrifennydd Poppy Jones Little yn trafod y syniadau tu ôl i’r sioe.

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SATURDAY 09.11.24 Lauren Heckler Performance

SUNDAY 27.10.24 ARTIST TALK & DISCUSSION OF IDEAS

SATURDAY 09.11.24 Lauren Heckler Performance

Join us for a night of performance from artist Lauren Heckler who will be responding to Delphi Campbell's work.

"In the soft bodily cave of ‘Unwanted Flesh’, my performance will encounter these states by weaving together spoken word and moving image."

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"...Entering into 'Unwanted Flesh' feels like burrowing your hand into a pouch or cavity. You are met with warmth, with comfort and tenderness - but something isn’t quite right. You feel around and encounter grit, knotted hair, hardened pelt. You can’t quite put your finger on it. It is not so much like being inside a pocket, as being inside a tumour, cyst or sac, palpating past the pulpy unwantedness.

At a glance the smallest of marks, ligatures and stitches give rise to a misshapen body - dripping, drooping and all hanging out. Pools of red light ooze from looming silicone vesicles. The red light evokes sex and pleasure, but also therapy - red light therapy can heal relentless wounds and abrasions. I don’t doubt that this is a space for healing. Patterns lifted from micrographs, scans and fingerprints are spread across the space, a corporal imprint of the artist’s actual body.

…Each ounce is imbued with a radical love for bodies. The acceptance of your body into such a space is a liberation. The body of work stems from Delphi’s physical experience of being a queer, disabled woman within a wider system which actively works to repress, silence and exploit. Pain reverberates at both a bodily and societal level, and we recognise its familiar thumping and pounding. This is not about ‘making invisible pain visible’ as such pain is never invisible, not if you have an ounce of compassion, not if you are willing to listen a little bit closer…”

- Poppy Jones-Little, 2024

"Yn debyg, mae mynd i mewn i 'Unwanted Flesh' yn teimlo fel claddu eich llaw mewn i gwdyn neu geudod. Cyfarfu chi â chynhesrwydd, gyda chyforddusrwydd ac addfwynder-ond dydy rhywbeth ddim cweit yn iawn. Dych chi’n teimlo o gwmpas a’n dod ar draws graen, clymau gwallt, croen wedi caledu. Methu cweit rhoi eich bys arno. Nid yw fwy fel bod tu mewn poced, a fyddai bod tu mewn tiwmor, syst neu wysigen, gan basio heibio’r pwlp annymunedig.

Ar gipolwg, mae’r marciau lleiaf, y rhwymau a’r pwythau’n dadorchuddio corff aflun- yn diferu, ymollwng a’i gyd yn hongian allan. Pyllau o olau coch yn tasgu allan o chwysigen silicon ar y gorwel. Y golau coch yn nawsaidd o ryw a phleser, ond hefyd therapi – mae therapi golau coch yn gallu lleddfu craethau didostur a ffrithiant. Nid wyf yn amau bod y gofod hwn ar gyfer lleddfu. Taenir patrymau wedi’u codi o ficrograffau, sganiau ac ôl bysedd ar draws y gofod, argraffnod gorfflen o gorff yr artist.

...pob owns a chariad radical am gyrff wedi ei dreiddio ynddo. Rhyddhad yw dy gorff yn cael ei dderbyn mewn i’r fath ofod. Mae’r corff o waith yn deillio o brofiadau corfforol Delphi o fod yn ddynes cwiar, anabl, o fewn system ehangach sy’n gweithio i ormesu, ecsploetiaeth a distawu. Mae poen yn atseinio ar lefel gorfforol a chymdeithasol, ac rydym yn adnabod ei drawiad a phwniad cyfarwydd. Nid yw hwn amdan ‘gwneud poen anweledig yn weledol’, i raddau dydy poen byth yn anweledig, nid os oes gennych owns o dosturi, nid os ydych yn barod i wrando ychydig yn agosach…"

- Poppy Jones-Little, 2024

MADE Solo Art Prize

The MADE Solo Art Award was established in 2016 to propel and support the career of artists based in South Wales through the production of a new body of work for exhibition within a year of the award through mentoring and funded studio time.

Made gallery and the artist recipients Zena Blackwell, Lucia Jones, Ellie Young, Kate Shooter & Delphi Campbell have been supported through production grants from the Arts Council of Wales, and since 2021 through the generous sponsorship of HannaH.

Gwobr Celf Unawd MADE

Sefydlwyd Gwobr Celf Unigol MADE i hybu a chefnogi gyrfa artistiaid sydd wedi’u lleoli yn Ne Cymru, trwy fentora, a thrwy amser stiwdio wedi’i ariannu, gyda’r nod o gynhyrchu corff newydd o waith i’w arddangos o fewn blwyddyn o dderbyn y wobr.

Mae’r artistiaid sydd wedi derbyn y wobr hyd yn hyn, Zena Blackwell, Lucia Jones, Ellie Young, Kate Shooter a Delphi Campbell wedi cael eu cefnogi drwy grantiau Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, ac ers 2021 drwy nawdd hael Sefydliad HannaH.

MAKERS - ARTISTS - DESIGNERS - ENTERPRISE

EXHIBITION EVENTS // Digwyddiadau Arddangos

SATURDAY 12.10.24 - MEET THE ARTIST DeLPHI CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

SUNDAY 27.10.24 ARTIST TALK & DISCUSSION OF IDEAS

SUNDAY 27.10.24 ARTIST TALK & DISCUSSION OF IDEAS

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

SATURDAY 09.11.24 Lauren Heckler Performance

SUNDAY 27.10.24 ARTIST TALK & DISCUSSION OF IDEAS

SATURDAY 09.11.24 Lauren Heckler Performance

MAKERS - ARTISTS - DESIGNERS - ENTERPRISE

EXHIBITION EVENTS // Digwyddiadau Arddangos

SATURDAY 12.10.24 - MEET THE ARTIST DeLPHI CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

SUNDAY 13.10.24 rag-rugging WORKSHOPs with Delphi CAMPBELL

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

SUNDAY 27.10.24 ARTIST TALK & DISCUSSION OF IDEAS

SUNDAY 27.10.24 ARTIST TALK & DISCUSSION OF IDEAS

Satuday 26.10.24 MEET THE ARTIST & LIVE PERFORMANCE

SATURDAY 09.11.24 Lauren Heckler Performance

SUNDAY 27.10.24 ARTIST TALK & DISCUSSION OF IDEAS

SATURDAY 09.11.24 Lauren Heckler Performance

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