GESTURES was a solo exhibition of photographic prints and sculpture by Newcastle-based artist Rosie Morris at Church of St. John, Healey, Northumberland, NE44 6BJ, 4-6 October, 2024.

The exhibition comprised of miniature soft sculptures and direct prints on aluminium, presented alternatively on the pew benches or prayer book shelves throughout a small rural church. Thinking through the perspective parenting brings on our own childhood, and when caring for parents, works explored the body as a site of shelter and attachment, as well as knowledge and emotions held in the body that are expressed through acts of caring and making and tending to artworks.

Six soft fabric sculptures resembled womb-like dens and objects reminiscent of personal nostalgia and care-giving. These were made from miniature-scaled cushions, blankets, abstract objects, and brooms made from human hair, as well as clothing heirlooms. Fabrics were dyed with kitchen waste, such as red cabbage, beetroot, onion skin and avocado stones, relating to the intensive domestic labour involved in acts of care.

Nine direct prints on aluminium, showed inverted photographs of aluminium foil (another domestic kitchen waste), cast into hands or into bodily gestures, eg. Holding and guiding a wrist. This process creates strange otherworldly photographed forms that are both crisp and fragile. The gestures aim to record actions between individuals that are fleeting and complex, revealing the supportive, loving, frustrated and disgust involved in acts of care. Printed life-size and ‘proper’ on prayer shelves, the prints are shown as objects, presented at hand height when sitting. In their context within a church, they relate to votives left in sacred places as an offering or prayer.