Sophy King
I’m a multidisciplinary environmental artist, investigating the nature-culture continuum through examination of and immersion in a place.
I work with found natural and man-made materials, photography, film and sound, and pared-down aesthetic. Walking and mapping are integral to my research; narratives of place, time and human interactions with the non-human; communities and ecologies.
My practice considers the Anthropocene/Planthroposcene, Deep Time and Vibrant Matter, examining ecological systems and phenomena in relation to the climate crisis. For several years I have been concerned with moss, soil, earth, peat, wildfires. I’ve focussed on peat moors and lowlands around Manchester; investigating their social, economic, and ecological context; exposing the nature of our relationship with our environment.
I’ve started using film and audio to examine our experience of the world and the turmoil we are grappling with. I’m currently exploring ideas about small-scale urban rewilding and sustainability at my studio at Rogue Artist’s Studios.
My work is entangled with the site-specific, deriving from particular qualities and characteristics of place, whether urban or rural. This develops into narrative, or leads to materials, intervention or image. My practice acknowledges that no place exists or evolves without the species and cultures that inhabit and shape it over time.
RECENT PROJECTS
2023-24 SPARK-Artists Interventions in a time of crisis; Curator
SPARK is a network of environmentally focused artists in the North-West supported by Castlefield Gallery. John-Paul Brown and I curated an exhibition of 30 SPARK artists with associated events @sparkartistsnetwork
2022-24 Para-Lab; science/art research collaborations
Working groups ‘Moss Colliding’ looking at the confluence of ecology and particle physics and ‘Soil Core’ investigating the ecology of soil and archives at the UK Centre of Ecology and Hydrology
2022-24 Rogue Rewilding - Interventions to increase biodiversity around Rogue Artists Studios and the wider Gorton community.
AWARDS
2023 Meadow Arts Commission Award, Worcester Open Climate Change Edition
2021 LBxan Artists Bursary www.biennial.com/blog
Bursary awarded by the Liverpool Biennial, a-n Artists Network and Open Culture to develop an audio-visual piece about water and open water swimming.
2006 Landscape Institute Award Landscape Architecture GDip Exhibition, MMU
RESIDENCIES
2023 Groundwork Gallery: Extraction Residency
#thegroundbeneathourfeet Program of residencies and exhibitions addressing Extraction, in association with Groundwork Gallery and The Grange Projects; aiming to foster collaborations and future environmentally focussed projects in the Norfolk region
2021-22 SUSTAIN Digital Artist Exchange www.sustainartists.info
Digital residency with a focus on low-carbon artmaking; commissioned by Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK and Aarhus Billedkunstcenter, Aarhus, Denmark.
2018-9 Moors for the Future, Edale Environmental Art Residency
2018 CAMP, Aulus-les-Bains, France Residency/workshop with Nils-Udo
2016 I-Park Foundation, Connecticut, USA Environmental Art Residency
COMMISSIONS
2024 Thresholds Site-specific Installation commissioned by The Whitaker Museum, Rossendale
2023 The Museum of the Vibrant Collector Installation and animation commissioned by Groundwork Gallery, King’s Lynn
2022 The Checklist Resource for artists to lower website’s carbon emissions commissioned by Castlefield Galleryfocused
2019 Talk to the Trees Community engagement, Lead Artist, Preston
2016 Birds of Passage Public Artwork, RSPB Sculpture Trail, Fairhaven Lake
2014 Reach Art Project Community Engagement for Lytham St Annes Promenade
2003 DNA Public Artwork, Nuffield Hospital, Leeds
2000 Wave Public Artwork, Saltash, Cornwall
1998 Sundial Public Artwork, Mile End, London
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024 SPARK- Curator and exhibitor, Rogue Project Artists Interventions in a time of crisis Space, Manchester
2023 THE GROUND BENEATH OUR FEET Groundwork Gallery, Norfolk
2023 CLIMATE.EMERGENCY.HOPE The Turnpike Gallery, Leigh
2023 WORCESTER OPEN The Art House/Pitt Studio, Worcester
2022 PARALAB REPORT Seesaw Space, Manchester
2019 MA/MFA HOME, Manchester
2017 PROOF Robert Burt Gallery, London
2016 RESIDENCE(residents) I-Park Foundation, Connecticut, USA
EDUCATION
2019 MA Fine Art (Distinction), Manchester School of Art
2007 BLA Landscape Architecture, Manchester Metropolitan University
1992 BA(Hons) 3D Design (wood, metal, ceramics, glass) Manchester Polytechnic
