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Where the Wings Wander by Pippa El-Kadhi Brown

'Where the Wings Wander' by El-Kadhi Brown

Pippa El-Kadhi Brown’s Stranger Skies at the Holden Gallery

28 January 2025

A captivating new exhibition by Pippa El-Kadhi Brown where art becomes a portal to otherworldly experiences

Fri 31 Jan – Thurs 27 Feb 2025

Preview: Thursday 30 Jan, 5:00 – 8:00pm (all welcome)

The Holden Gallery at Manchester Metropolitan University hosts Stranger Skies this Spring, a captivating new exhibition by Pippa El-Kadhi Brown created during her 12-month Freelands Studio Fellowship at Manchester School of Art. 

This thought-provoking collection invites visitors to step into realms where the boundaries between the real and fantastical dissolve, and where art becomes a portal to otherworldly experiences.

Through shimmering, shapeshifting forms and fractured planes, El-Kadhi Brown reimagines ethereal landscapes, hazily remembered and beautifully transformed. Soft pastels and sugary horizons extend a hand to visitors, leading them into dreamy, otherworldly dimensions. Her work delicately captures the interplay between the ‘thingness’ of being and the ‘beingness’ of a thing, challenging perceptions of the human form and its emergence in abstract shapes.

A standout feature of the exhibition is the multi-planed Where the Wings Wander, where a candy-dotted sky and inverted realities coalesce into a nostalgic, sumptuous vision. These larger works, described as visual Möbius strips, invite viewers to bend and stretch their perspectives—both physically and imaginatively. Whether gazing at amorphous forms morphing into arms and wings, or immersing themselves in the scene of Monkberry Moon Delight, a summer dusk envisioned in four dimensions, audiences are encouraged to explore the endless possibilities of El-Kadhi Brown’s imaginative cosmos.

Drawing inspiration from the sixteenth-century manuscript The Book of Miracles, El-Kadhi Brown seamlessly merges human and celestial forms, creating anthropomorphised comets and clouds that blur the line between reality and the phantasmagorical. In these works, human and non-human elements slip into one another, hinting at the deeper, atomic truths of existence.

From larger canvases with kaleidoscopic brushstrokes reminiscent of atomic collisions to smaller, fiery plumes melting into whipped clouds, each piece feels alive with movement and energy. Paintings like Carousel pulse with chemical reactions of greens, blues, and zaps of light, while works on paper provide a more intimate, earthy perspective. Through oil pastels and charcoal, imagined landscapes oscillate between charming simplicity and an urgent depth, as though El-Kadhi Brown is racing to capture fleeting memories before they dissolve.

The exhibition invites us to transform how we perceive the everyday. El-Kadhi Brown’s sweeping forms and intricate worlds inspire us to reimagine grey skies, mundane landscapes, and the boundaries of possibility.

Stranger Skies at Holden Gallery
Stranger Skies by Pippa El-Kahdi Brown

The Freelands Studio Fellowship offers a significant opportunity for those who are early in their career. The Fellowship provides all Fellows with significant career-enhancing opportunities. They receive access to a studio at a host university, mentoring sessions with a member of teaching staff and a grant. They also benefit from developing their teaching practice by leading tutorials and lectures.

As El-Kahdi Brown puts it “Stranger Skies is the culmination of a year of total experimentation, reflection, and discovery. My year at Manchester School of Art has nurtured a pivotal moment in my practice; a shift that has redefined my relationship with painting.  Unlocking new ways of making and seeing, it has opened up for me a new realm of painting - much like the way Stranger Skies invites viewers to journey elsewhere, and to they themselves enter into these otherworlds.

I’m deeply proud and immensely grateful for the opportunity to connect, explore, and evolve alongside the extraordinary students and tutors, whose ambition and support have been transformative. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey. I’m so excited to share Stranger Skies in the beautiful Holden Gallery, and to celebrate what has been an incredible year.”

Join us from 31 January to 27 February 2025 to experience Stranger Skies for yourself. The exhibition preview on Thursday 30 January, 5:00 – 8:00pm, offers the perfect opportunity to explore this extraordinary body of work and meet the artist.

Stranger Skies is made possible through the generous support of the Freelands Foundation, London, and Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University.