This exhibition is comprised of nineteen artworks from the Outside In Collection, which have been selected and curated by participants who took part on the digital curating course between April and May 2023.

The theme of the exhibition explores the varied creative strategies for dealing with trauma, resourcefulness in discovering outlets for personal expression, and recovering a sense of sanctuary and healing through art and imagination.

Art works are displayed in four overlapping sections, where each section addresses a different approach and flows into the next, in a circular loop and around again.

The introductory section begins with outward displays of power through war, violence and the imposing architecture found in cityscapes, which are designed to evoke feelings of shock and awe.

The second section turns inward to examine humanity’s primal urge to create ambivalent ‘grotesques’ through ornamentation and decoration, which can be simultaneously dark and disturbing, yet also witty and charming.

The third section presents the capacity to find solace and joy in the beauty of nature and in wildlife, a sense of safety symbolised through home and belonging, and in the temporary suspension of reality, all of which are depicted in bold and vibrant uses of colour.

The final section begins the loop back through the exhibition, indicating the circular nature of life’s ups and downs and how the inner life of the individual copes with external circumstance. Here we can contemplate moments of personal struggle and suffering, and the destruction inflicted on non-human, as well as human life. Yet we can look around the exhibition once again to glimpse moments of joy, creativity, and hope, in the face of adversity.