Exhibition dates: 9–12 July 2026

Launch date: Thursday 9 July, 5–7pm – All welcome

“It is the beautiful, it is the strange. It's what remains, after the sea takes everything, and gives it back, rearranged.“ – Terence Wilde

Much of the work featured in this exhibition is based around ideas, art and ceramics made during Terence Wilde’s Arts Council England funded DYCP project, which he embarked on in August 2025. The original working theme of clay, scale and spirituality has led him through the elements to the undertow of the sea, where he has begun to make art more from inside of an experience, rather than about one. Wilde wanted to work from a clearer psychological space by providing himself with a more private physical environment. The work recently created is from learning to use the language of self-acceptance where both joy and grief occupy the same space, and where the push and pull of chaos and order co-exist in a more expansive fluid state.

“My intention with ‘Undertow’ isn't to announce itself, for it to crash dramatically like a wave, instead, it lurks beneath the surface, dragging from below, often invisible, until you're already caught in it. The sea is as honest a metaphor as I could find to express a certain kind of trauma, not an ache of a visible kind, but the persistent subterranean pull that operates beneath ordinary life and happiness. I wanted to make something that held beauty on its surface. ‘Undertow’ works simply with the nature of water; that survival requires moving with it at an angle, not against it directly.

The challenge has never been in the creation of the work but within the contradiction of making privately then showing publicly, when the maker doesn't feel they have the courage to do such a thing. I have learnt to use the language of self-acceptance where both joy and grief occupy the same space, and where the push and pull of chaos and order co-exist in a more expansive fluid state.”

Biography

Terence Wilde (b.1963) is a London-based gay visual artist and educator. He draws on his own mental health journey, from the perspective of an adult survivor, in all his works, with creativity helping him to heal and make sense of his life at any given time. Wilde’s work has been widely exhibited including in group exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts, London; Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate; and in The Box at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London. In 2024 Wilde won an award at the inaugural Cass Art Exhibition at Copeland Art Gallery, London. He is represented by the Jennifer Lauren Gallery, Manchester.

Talk: There will be an informal free talk with artist Terence Wilde in the space on Saturday morning from 11:30-12. He will also be present each day the show is open.

Opening Hours: Thursday–Sunday, 12–4pm. Appointments can be made at other times, please email: info@jenniferlaurengallery.com
Access: This venue has step-free access.
Free entrance

Installation photographs above by Antonio Parente