Marks of the Isles
October 16 - November 15, 2025
Whistleblower Gallery, 
Brighton, UK
 

Marks of the Isles

Our Isles have been inhabited by many different cultures and tribes over thousands of years. The impact they’ve had on our society and creative work can be seen across this land. With no written language left behind by many of the native peoples, we rely on the marks, objects and stories they created, and on the people today who dedicate their lives to retelling and reimagining those stories through their work.

Today, there is a renewed interest in the deeper layers of cultural identity. Artists, historians and makers are once again engaging with the visual languages of the past, exploring how they continue to shape our sense of who we are. This exhibition treats those marks not as historical curiosities, but as part of an ongoing conversation, one that links ancestry with contemporary creativity.

This show looks to bring together a group of artists whose work reflects that dialogue. Each draws from the material and symbolic language of the Isles in a distinct way, using it as a foundation for new ideas and new forms of making. Together, they show how the past continues to shape the present.

We invite you to see some of this work here at Whistleblower gallery.
 

Featuring artists:

• Alex Binnie explores traditional mark-making through print and design

• Ellie Davies Combines symbolic imagery, human form and psychological tension to examine myth and story.

• Jasper Goodall uses photography to examine the relationship between people and the land.

• Scott Knight works with raw materials to explore tradition and craft.

• Oakley Lamerton connects older stories with the present through narrative.

• Sean Parry makes work that spans thousands of years of history, a reflection of his passion for archaeology and ancient iconography.

• Jim Sanders creates work rooted in ritual, myth and symbolic forms.

• Treubhan reworks early Celtic and Pictish patterns in a contemporary way.

• Laurence Watchorn builds imagery from memory, folklore and shared stories
   

We hope you’ll join us in celebrating these artists and the ways they keep the marks of the past alive today.