The Volunteer: A Sculpture Exhibition- Private View

Private View

9 Sep.  Wednesday   17:30 – 20:00

Exhibition

10 Sep. Thursday - 27 Sep. Sunday

Yarli Allison 逸離
Aaron Li-Hill
Milo Li-Ren Mckeand
Jessica Mok 
Sue Man

A volunteer is a plant that sprouts where it wasn’t planted. No one put it there. It arrived by wind, by water, by the boot of someone passing through – and it stayed

The Volunteer is a sculpture exhibition exploring growing, rooting, ageing, and the life cycle, presented as part of Offshoots Festival at ESEA Community Centre, Hackney. Bringing together artists working in sculpture, the exhibition asks what it means to take root in unexpected ground — and what we leave behind when we do.

Come and wander among the works. Stay a while. See what's growing.

ARTISTS:

Yarli Allison today is a fortune teller. 神婆今日在
Come have a palm reading.

Aaron Li-Hill is a Canadian visual artist currently based in London, whose practice spans painting, mural-making, installation, and sculpture. With a background rooted in graffiti and street culture, and formal training in Fine Art, his work weaves between studio and public space, operating at scales ranging from intimate works on panel to monumental murals embedded in the urban landscape. Drawing from his mixed Chinese-Canadian heritage, he blends disparate methodologies including classical figurative painting, graphic design, stencil work, action painting, and found-object assemblage, deliberately disrupting distinctions between high and low visual languages.

Li-Hill holds a BFA from OCAD University and has exhibited internationally, with works shown in institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Urban Nation Museum Berlin, and the CCCC Museum in Valencia.

Milo Li-Ren Mckeand is a potter and craftsperson who has spent the last 10 years making design led ceramic homewares and looking to use the long standing positioning of craft entwined with the domestic, as language in opposition to ever growing cruelty to our flattening digital lives.

Jessica Mok is a ceramic artist and designer from Hong Kong, now based in the UK. Her creative journey has delved deeply into the material possibilities within ceramics. Heavily influenced by the experience of transitioning from one city to another, she metaphorically links this idea to the transformation of the material itself. Reflecting the journey of Hong Kong immigrants adapting to life in the UK.

Jessica’s practice is process-led and research-based, with a strong emphasis on learning through making. Her work considers the material’s characteristics in relation to the design. She continues to explore themes of belonging, inclusive society, and the relationships between landscape, people, and materiality.

Sue Man is a London-based multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Sweden with Chinese heritage. Working with clay, found materials and installation, her sculptural practice explores womanhood, ageing and transformation. Through tactile forms, she reflects on beauty, imperfection and the changing female body, inviting conversations about visibility, acceptance and the value of lived experience.