Together! 2020 Open Exhibition

Brilliantly coloured semi-abstract painting in shades of red, orange, yellow, purple and blue

Daksha Amin. Elements of nature. Oil on canvas. 24” x 36”.

Exhibiting Artists: Daksha Amin, Dawn Barber, Hazel Brill, Lee Brooker, Dwain Bryan, Ju Gosling, Pamela Hillyer, Sarah Hughes, Kirkwood Brothers, Jermaine Logan, Paizah Malek, Tony Malone, Alison Marchant, Julie Newman, Pritesh Patel, Crystal Peasey, Sterre Ploeger, Glory Sengo, Margaret Spence, Emily Surgeoner, Josh Surgeoner, Tracy Vidal, Jayne Waters and Safiyya Yussaf. Thanks to Together! Art Club, the Art Recovery Group and Act Up! Newham.

The annual Together! Open Exhibition brings together work by locally based Disabled artists, whether they are amateur, community, student, semi-professional or professional artists. Anyone with a Newham connection – for example, living, studying, working or volunteering in Newham now or in the past – and who identifies as a Deaf or Disabled person* is able to submit one family-friendly work for guaranteed inclusion. We usually exhibit and tour the Together! Open Exhibition to community venues (there are no dedicated gallery spaces in Newham), curating the displays according to themes, subjects and colours. *Including people with learning difficulties, long-term mental health difficulties, physical or sensory impairments and long-term health conditions, from all ages and cultural groups.

Image of a fox emerging from bushes.

Dawn Barber: Harry the Fox. Acrylic on canvas. 20″ x 16″. 2020.

The images are shown here are simply in alphabetical order – clicking on an image will display it at full size to enable you to ‘get up close’.  This year’s show is significantly smaller than usual, highlighting the ongoing closure since March of the weekly community art groups on which many of our previous exhibitors usually rely. It also reflects the impact that Covid-19 has had on professional artists’ access to their studios, including artists losing their studios along with the part-time jobs that funded them. The access that artists have had to cameras and scanners to document their non-digital work has also varied as a result. Together! 2012 CIC is working via our Clubs programme to support Disabled artists at every stage in their career, and have been pleased to offer a home-based version of our Art Club and Professional Development Club since March. But although smaller than usual, we think you will agree that the Together! 2020 Open Exhibition is at least as vibrant, colourful and wide-ranging as always!

Please note that these works are not for sale, but we are happy to pass expressions of interest on directly to the artists.

Photograph of a large-scale installation at night.

Hazel Brill: Algae. Wood, scaffolding, animation, music and projection mapping.

Painted sketch of a red VW Beetle car, with a photograph of the artist in the driver's window and the words Lee and Volkswagen in red paint.

Lee Brooker: Driving. Pencil, paint and photograph on A2 paper. 2020.

Sketch of a face with a red stripe at the top instead of hair and black paint over the mouth

Dwain Bryan: Sketch and Shadow. Pencil and acrylic paint on A3 paper. 2020.

Two tree trunks have grown intertwined, like a ballroom dancing couple leaning back. The photograph has been manipulated so that the predominant colours are shades of purple and blue.

Ju Gosling aka ju90: Trees Tango. Digital print (low res here).

Photograph of knitted rainbows hanging in the Salvation Army shop window.

Pamela Hillyer: Rainbows. Crocheted wool. 2020.

Sarah Hughes: Battleground the Legacy of the Algorithm. 2m sq. Acrylic paint. 2020.

Painting of a whale

Kirkwood Brothers: Huge Whale in Tiny Tank. Pen on paper.

Drawing of flowers and trees against a blue sky.

Jermaine Logan: Rosary Red. Watercolour pencil. A5. 2020.

Colourful drawing of a group of Disabled people sitting in a circle in a studio theatre with a support worker behind one of them, and Act Up Newham in the background as a banner. On the stage a sign reads Lockdown is over.

Paizah Malek: Act Up! Newham in a Covid-free future. Colouring pencils on A3 paper. 2020.

Framed picture of an old-fashioned inn called The Blue Peter in the background, while in the foreground steps lead down a stone jetty to water where a wooden boat is bobbing.

Tony Malone: Blue Peter. 30cm x 40cm. Watercolour paint on handmade paper.

Two black and white portraits, one of one woman and one of two, are propped against grey and pale pink patterned wallpaper.

Alison Marchant: In lockdown at my mother’s house. Installation with old family photographs. 2020.

Digital image of a crowded street in Soho with a medieval plague doctor in the foreground.

Julie Newman: Soho Nights. Digital image. 2020.

Painting of a sailing boat outlined against a large yellow moon on the horizon, with birds silhouetted against the sky.

Pritesh Patel: The Boat and the Moon. Acrylic paint on paper. 2020.

A pencil and paint drawing of pink flowers with ambiguous purple blue shapes.

Crystal Peasey: Still Life. Pencil and acrylic paint on A3 paper. 2020.

Abstract painting in shades of oranges and browns, with glitter.

Sterre Ploeger: Drama. Mixed media on canvas. 60cm x 50 cm. 2020.

Drawing in green, brown, yellow and blue felt tip pens of a fairground ride.

Glory Sengo: Thorpe Park. Felt tip on A3 paper. 2020.

Painting of a river running through a sandy and wooded landscape, with a tree on the opposite bank reflected in the water.

Margaret Spence: Remembering Ireland. Watercolour paint on sketchpad. 2020.

Drawing of different circles, each with different images and patterns - dark and light pink squares, numbers counting up and down to 10, balloons floating, mickey mouse ears and one with turquoise small circles in a large purple one.

EJay Surgeoner: Windows to My Imagination. Coloured pen on paper. 2020.

A full moon is rising behind fir trees and a wolf is outlined on the horizon in the centre.

Josh Surgeoner: Moon with howling wolf. Digital image. 2020.

Tracy Vidal: Boats and coconut trees by the Caribbean sea/golden, sandy beach with sparkling azure blue waters. Acrylic on canvas. 12″ x 9″.

a delicate drawing, like embroidery, in yellow with some blue and pink.

Jayne Waters: Pain Doodle. Pen and ink on black A4 paper.

A full sun is in the sky over brown land tipped with white, and red birds fly over.

Safiyya Yussaf: Summertime. Watercolour paint on paper. A3.