In 1971, artist Rose Finn-Kelcey (1945-2014) installed a hand-sewn flag above Alexandra Palace. It held a matter-of-fact statement in block capitals:聽Here Is a Gale Warning.聽The piece broadcasted聽an undisclosed emergency聽that was already in progress,聽alerting audiences to the fact that a state of perpetual crisis聽nonetheless demands vigilant聽attention. More than 50 years on, the world has lived through a pandemic, experienced increasing natural disasters caused by climate change, as well as brutal international conflicts. Constant barrages of news updates and real-time social media posts mean people have unprecedented exposure to these events. Yet, increased access has paradoxically resulted in 鈥渕edia fatigue鈥.聽聽suggested a growing ambivalence to long-running news stories, with 鈥渉igh interest鈥 in current affairs in the UK dropping from 70% in 2015 to 38% in 2024. Clearly, Finn-Kelcey鈥檚 work is more relevant than ever. A new exhibition at Kettle鈥檚 Yard takes its name from the iconic work.聽Here is a Gale Warning: Art, Crisis & Survival聽explores the capacity of artworks to both warn us of political, social and ecological upheaval, and serve as a source of replenishment.聽
The landmark show gathers sculpture, painting, photography and moving image. The exhibiting artists include Cecilia Vicu帽a, known for knotted installations that address ecological destruction, human rights and cultural homogenisation; Pia Arke, known for landscape photographs that map the complex relations between Denmark and Greenland; and Candace Hill-Montgomery, whose decades-long career has covered topics including racism, poverty and feminism. In bringing together practitioners who operate in different media聽and distinct contexts, the exhibition finds points of connection聽and solidarity聽across generations, movements and nations.聽
The show opens with Finn-Kelcey鈥檚 eponymous flag, before giving way to a presentation by Hill-Montgomery, which was specially conceived for Kettle鈥檚 Yard. The display weaves together 50 years of artistic practice, highlighting her enduring dedication to challenging social injustices. It includes a large-scale drawing based on the artist鈥檚 1980 memorialisation of the assassinated Black Panther Fred Hampton. The activist was killed by law enforcement in 1969 after the FBI identified him as a radical threat. Hill-Montgomery鈥檚 oeuvre is brought up to date with more recent multimedia weavings, that are based on incidents taken from the news cycle.聽
Hill-Montgomery鈥檚 commitment to activism is mirrored in Tomashi Jackson鈥檚 wall-based works, which summon solidarities across time and place. The artist draws upon the targeted racialised raids by the Los Angeles Police Department, as well as the New Cross fire of 1981. The blaze at a party in south-east London killed 13 Black people aged between 14 and 21 and is believed to have been started deliberately. In the face of state neglect and unimaginable trauma, Jackson proposes that community is a buffer against crisis. Elsewhere, Tarek Lakhrissi鈥檚 Unfinished Sentence I聽(2019) presents a speculative counternarrative of queer rebellion and resilience. Inspired by Monique Wittig鈥檚 lesbian epic聽Les Gu茅rill猫res聽(1969), which tells of a battle of the sexes where women 鈥渆ngage in bloody, victorious battles using knives, machine guns and rocket launchers,鈥 Lakhrissi refashions metal spears into curling vines.聽
Vicu帽a and Arke, meanwhile, tell stories of Indigenous history, rights and traditions. Vicu帽a鈥檚 film聽颁濒辞耻诲-狈别迟听(1999) shows the artist weaving a聽辩耻颈辫耻听鈥 an Andean knotted device used for the transmission of information 鈥 around the supports of Brooklyn Bridge in New York. The process reinscribes the built, urban environment with systems of knowledge lost to colonialism. Arke鈥檚聽Untitled (Torn, reassembled, and annotated camera聽obscuraphotostat)聽(1993) runs parallel to this. Here, a ripped-up image of Nuugaarsuk Point in Greenland, home to Inuit Thule, is juxtaposed with Danish translations of exinct East Greenlandic songs of struggles and resistance. It is part of a deeply personal oeuvre, in which Arke often used nude self-portraits and writings to reexamine the history of Denmark鈥檚 repressive colonisation. In聽Stories from Scoresbysund: Photographs, Colonisation and Mapping聽(2003), the artist wrote: 鈥淚 make the history of colonialism part of聽尘测听history in the only way I know, namely by taking it personally.鈥澛
Audiences will see Anne Tallentire鈥檚聽滨苍迟别谤蝉辫补肠颈苍驳听series (2018), which uses the living spaces afforded to prisoners as architectural models. Fabricated from rudimentary materials, including tape聽and construction supplies, these works measure both the limits of聽a聽cell聽and, through Tallentire鈥檚 reassembling, imagines new structures within utilitarian contexts. Also on display is a newly commissioned large-scale drawing by Tallentire, which sees a return to the artist鈥檚 longstanding interest in social housing. The works engage Cambridge鈥檚 social housing developments during the same period.
Here is a Gale Warning鈥s scope is awe-inspiring. The exhibition brings together artists who work in vastly different spheres and unites them in a common goal: to warn of upheaval, acknowledge wrongdoing and present a more hopeful alternative. Audiences are guided through the most pressing issues of our time, including ecological breakdown, racialised violence and colonial displacement, engaging with practitioners who offer a new perspective on these era-defining problems. These聽artists may聽attest to聽a聽broken world, but they聽also work to heal, mend聽and imagine new possibilities for survival.
Here is a Gale Warning is at Kettle’s Yard until 29 June:
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
Rose Finn-Kelcey, Here is a Gale Warning, 1971 / 2011 Silver gelatin print mounted on foam board 46 x 70cm 漏 Estate of Rose Finn-Kelcey. Courtesy the Estate and Kate MacGarry, London.
Cecilia Vicu帽a, cloud-net, 1999, Still from video documentation of a performance, Courtesy of the artist and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York
Rose Finn-Kelcey Untitled: Boxing Glove and Bubble #1, c. 1970 / 2019 Archival fibre print 11.5 x 8cm漏Estate of Rose Finn-Kelcey. Courtesy the Estate and Kate MacGarry, London.
Rose Finn-Kelcey, Power for the People, 1972/2011, Colour photograph mounted on aluminium 漏聽Estate of Rose Finn-Kelcey.聽Courtesy the Estate聽and聽Kate聽MacGarry, London
