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Bethlem Gallery is delighted to present artist and designer Bethany Williams’ first solo art exhibition. Its title, This Wild, Achingly Beautiful Place, is inspired by a poem called ‘In This Mind’ by Eno Mfon. 

In this immersive exhibition, Bethany presents a new body of artwork that explores personal experiences of chronic illness and incorporates her skilful and sustainable approach to materials, textures and design. The materials, natural dyes, and imagery used in the works are based on Williams’ home region of the Isle of Man and reflect her interest in sustainability.   

A series of porcelain sculptures sits alongside fabric vessels, luminating the gallery space. The human form is incorporated into the work in ways that feel at once tender and ghostly; calm and yet disturbed. The low light is important in creating an atmospheric and immersive experience that also underpins an enquiry about how the senses are impacted for someone living with pain. Outside the Gallery building, in the extensive hospital grounds, a series of banners animate the orchard (see video for how to get there).  

The exhibition invites visitors and viewers to explore concepts of recovery both historically and today, very personally, through the work of Bethany Williams. The artist explores the historically dismissed experience of women with chronic pain, the significance of the mind body connection and the importance of nature.