Hummadruz

Hummadruz was an international group exhibition exploring the overarching and infinite rhythms of nature, folklore and the occult and how they have become a lived system embodied by both artists and communities. It included works by Ithell Colquhoun, Mary Beth Edelson, Byzantia Harlow, Amy Lawrence, Susan MacWilliam, Niamh O’Malley, Silke Otto-Knapp, Beth Emily Richards, Monica Sjöö, Jill Smith, Lucy Stein, Linda Stupart, Gitte Villesen, Anne-Marie Watson. As well as Artefacts loaned by The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic and private collections. Invisible threads ran through the exhibition, connecting each artist; from a direct influence that one has had on another’s practice or life, to a wider impact on a generation’s social and personal politics. The artefacts included all exist as the physical manifestation of a spiritual requirement, created for a specific purpose and imbued with the magic of their maker or owner. Many of the artworks were made for similar reasons; as part of a process of meditation, mediation and finally, a need for action or creation - influenced by different movements, whether that is folk magic and traditional witchcraft, the Goddess movement and Feminism or a more intimate uninitiated form of spiritualism. Hummadruz was nearly two years in the development and was supported by a wide range of people, including; Simon Costin and Peter Hewitt of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic; artist Lucy Stein; Gemma Gary and Jane Cox of Troy Books; collectors Marcus Williamson, Jeffrey Sherwin, Maggie Parks and Richard Shillitoe; Blair Todd at Newlyn Art Gallery; and Rupert White, writer and editor of ArtCornwall.org, who has provided a breadth of knowledge and depth of support throughout the process.