Past Exhibitions

Talismanic

Elaine Duigenan’s art is grounded in the physical and natural world.

Her process starts with a visceral response to particular objects and develops through a combination of play and research.  The works are made quickly and using simple materials.

Influenced by British Surrealism, Elaine incorporates elements of surprise, juxtaposition and symbolism into her work.

Some of the fragments she uses were buried for centuries in the River Thames, and her work reflects how ‘everyday things are made talismanic by time and immersion’*.

ABOUT WOMEN

Widely considered one of the doyennes of late twentieth century British photography, Dorothy Bohm was born Dorothea Israelit in Germany in 1924. Sent to the safety of England in 1939, she attended school in Sussex and studied photography in Manchester before setting up her own portrait studio there. In the late 1940s, inspired by a visit to the artists’ colony of Ascona in the Ticino, Switzerland, she started working outside the studio, capturing moments in ordinary lives with profound humanity and an instinctive eye for composition. Her first exhibition was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, in 1969, where she met Roland Penrose. This led to his writing the Foreword to her first book, A World Observed, in 1970 – in which he memorably commented that ‘her camera does not only see, it also feels’.

Forest Inspired

A group exhibition showcasing the work of artists who are inspired  by forests. With a particular focus on, and celebration of, the Ashdown Forest. Some of the works, in various media, are being created especially to commemorate this invaluable, ancient wilderness of tree, bush and heathland. Denise Fisk will be exhibiting a selection of her evocative oil paintings completed of the Ashdown Forest. Keith Pettit will present a newly executed wood engraving, ‘Enchanted Place’ a favourite site of his in this area of outstanding natural beauty. Derek Adams’s work will feature a collection of new poems inspired by the Ashdown Forest.

Street Life

This exhibition celebrates Lee Millers wide-ranging body of photographs taken on the international streets she traversed, always with one of her various cameras or trusted Rolleiflex in hand.

More Than Seizures

More Than Seizures is a collaborative multimedia project that explores the realities of living with one of the world’s most misunderstood conditions.

From the Lee Miller Archives: LEE as Seen on Screen

A carefully curated selection of images from the Lee Miller Archives. This exhibition showcases Miller’s innovative use of her lens, her mastery of photographic techniques and her accomplished exploration of diverse subject matter and styles. It is a celebration of a ground-breaking twentieth century artist and her Rolleiflex.

New Stories, Women in Photography, India.

New Stories brings together the works of 25 Indian women photographers, each offering a distinct insight into wide-ranging contemporary, visual narratives. This exhibition is a testament to the evolving language of photography, by women in India, where personal expression intersects with broader social, cultural, and environmental realities. The works traverse diverse themes – ranging from intimate explorations of identity and memory, to larger socio-political discourses – reflecting the multiplicity of voices within the photographic landscape.

Humphrey Jennings – Observations

It is with great pleasure that we are exhibiting a selection of Humphrey Jennings’ art works from the archives this summer. Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings (19 August 1907 – 24 September 1950) was an English documentary filmmaker, artist, writer, set designer, painter and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organisation. He has been affectionately described as British cinema’s war poet in recognition of his many acclaimed portrayals of life in Britain during WWII for the GPO film unit. Farleys Gallery will be showcasing a selection of Jennings’ images in varied media as a celebratory look at his prolific output.

Lee Miller, Roland Penrose and The Summer of 1937

Showcasing photographs by Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, this brand-new exhibition focuses on the summer of ’37, the summer of love for Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, who had recently met, and also for their friends; Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, Picasso, Dora Maar, Man Ray and Ady Fidelin. The images exhibited, capture the essence of that idyllic summer of love shared by Penrose, Miller and their circle, and as seen in the recent film LEE, and visually express the precious freedom and friendship enjoyed by these artists, just as WWII loomed ominously on the horizon.

BEACH to BEACHHEAD – Lee Miller’s Cameras and their Journey into War

For three years before the last war, we met every summer on the beaches of the south, like a happy family […] Our idyllic summers did not last long. The clouds of war were gathering.  Man Ray 1974

Daughters of the Soil

Daughters of the Soil, a photography exhibition by Joanne Coates, whose evocative images capture the untold stories of women working in agriculture across the North of England.

Despite forming nearly 28% of the UK farming workforce, women in agriculture often remain unseen, their contributions overlooked in a field marked by generational traditions and systemic barriers. Only 7% are recorded as the owner or principle farmer. Coates’ work shines a spotlight on these challenges, from limited access to land, to the demands of motherhood and the scarcity of women in leadership roles. Through intimate portraits and documentary imagery, Daughters of the Soil offers a powerful counter-narrative, challenging perceptions of women’s roles in agriculture and celebrating the resilience, skill, and tenacity of these female farmers.

Looking Beyond

Through her tactile and otherworldly art, Nathalie explores the complex relationship between life, ageing, and the societal constructs of perfection.

Farleys 75 years, I remember…

Lee & LEE

‘Lee & LEE,’ pairs some of Lee Miller’s most iconic photographs with their counterparts from the highly anticipated feature film ‘LEE’ ahead of the film’s release by Sky in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on 13th September.

The exhibition will showcase comparative images of Lee Miller’s wartime reportage alongside photographs by Kimberley French (official photographer for LEE) of meticulously researched scenes recreated for the film. Additionally, it will feature photographs by Kate Winslet taken on set whilst filming using a Rolleiflex camera that was carefully researched and compared with Lee Miller’s own camera here at Farleys.

Beneath This Mask

An exhibition of 42 contemporary giclee prints made from scans of Claude Cahun’s original photographic self-portraits, as the majority of the negatives have been lost. Claude Cahun (25.10.1894-08.12.1954) was a French Surrealist who worked in a variety of media including photography and sculpture, while also writing extensively. Cahun’s substantial production of innovative, theatrical, self portraits, in which she inhabits a vast array of characters, comprises the artist’s best known body of work.

A Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition from Southbank Centre, London.

Listen to What You See

This exhibition showcases some of Amy Grantham’s work completed over the last few years, which she refers to as, ‘transcriptions of sound.’ Her beautiful pastel compositions are the visual projections of the shapes and colours she sees while listening to music as she works.

The War at Home

Drawing from the Lee Miller Archives this exhibition shows us, through Miller’s innovative lens, the varied ways in which Britain survived another world war with resilience and fortitude; weathering the Blitz, rationing and profound hardship. Her diverse images portray the story of a nation’s ingenuity, hard work, play, adaptability and, despite the destruction and loss caused by war, its communal, defiantly optimistic pursuit of endurance and beauty.

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The End (For Now)

The End (For Now) explores not only a personal passing of time, but a journey through technology and mediums of storytelling. The works expand a film archive that has developed over decades from a revisited collection of individual and shared intimate family memories.

The Rivers Melt

The Rivers Melt – a journey along the European Green Belt and the Iron Curtain borderlands.

At the intersection of nature, history, political ideology and environmentalism, The Rivers Melt, by documentary photographer Hanna Katrina-Jędrosz, explores the European Green Belt which exists along the former Iron Curtain borderlands from the Barents Sea above Norway to the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria.

Lee Miller and Roland Penrose – Love Letters bound in Gold Handcuffs

This is an exhibition that celebrates love, friendship and creativity. It provides a comprehensive look at the photography of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose during the courting period when their love letters were written (1937-1939). Expanding to show other work by Lee Miller from her travels and period living in Egypt (1934-1939). Photographs such as ‘Portrait of Space’ are considered, by many, to have been taken by Lee at the height of her Surrealist photography output, and yet very few of her other Egyptian period images have been exhibited or published until now. This exhibition also features other never before seen images by Lee from this period.

Threads of War

Patchwork hangings and embroideries made from an archive of images of women facing conflict.

Lee Miller Portraits

The Lee Miller Portraits exhibition, will feature the sole form of photography that Lee Miller continued to practice throughout her entire life. Even after she had buried her other images in the attic at Farleys, Miller still occasionally photographed her friends. Her final official portrait shoot, was of Antoni Tapies in his studio in 1972. Miller used a Rollieflex, held at chest height, to capture most of her portraits. This meant that the subject and Miller could keep eye contact, and engage in witty conversation during the shoot, resulting in the relaxed unselfconscious expressions in the faces of her sitters.

Painting Women Writers

A series of twenty portraits of contemporary female writers by BP Portrait Award-winning artist, Susanne du Toit.

Emmy Bridgwater: The Edge of Beyond

This Spring, we are absolutely delighted to show works by British surrealist, Emmy Bridgwater (10.11.1906 – 13.03.1999).

This exhibition comes to us from The Mayor Gallery, London

Friends to Frontiers

Annabel Moeller’s work spans over three decades of photography during a career defined by her sense of adventure, and one that has taken in an astonishingly diverse cast of characters.  This exhibition is a retrospective collection of Annabel’s work to date presented in a series of chapters from her carefree beginnings creating with film in darkrooms in the 1990’s, to the fast-paced world of the infinite digital environment.

From the creative powerhouses of the Sydney Opera House and the London Coliseum to the war-scarred backdrops of Afghanistan and Iraq. Catwalk models, ballet dancers, opera stars exist alongside soldiers, surgeons and civilians.

Annabel’s photography shows her desire to tell the human side of any story with humour and determination.

Enigmas…Ambiguities…Anomalies

Frances Bloomfield’s work can be described as a form of contemporary Surrealism, which owes much to the ideas explored by Giorgio de Chirico in the early 20th century.

Arts Awards

Organised by Farleys Arts Trust this bi-ennial event celebrates the outstanding creative achievements of GCSE and A level standard art students from across East Sussex Schools and Colleges.

Trümmerfotographie – The Wreckage of War

Forming a subset of disaster photography, rubble photography (Trümmerfotografie) is a genre commonly composed of images depicting bombed and burned-out cities like Dresden and Cologne. It is cited when theorizing the contribution of such images to the politics of collective memory connected to Germany’s reconstruction and eventual reunification after WWII. – William Taylor

Camouflage

An exhibition of the unpublished photographs and ephemera surrounding the making and official republishing of the Home Guard Manual of Camouflage.

Generations: Hastings Fishing Families

This exhibition is a photographic portrayal from the 1990’s to the present of the men and women of the Hasting’s fishing community, that is Britain’s oldest, and Europe’s largest, beach-launched fishing fleet. It is a community that has been in existence for over a thousand years — a community that is on the edge of extinction.

Profits from the sale of photographs in this exhibition and copies of the book will be shared with the Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society.

Us | Then and Now | Taking up Space

Henri T is a visual storyteller who works with photography, moving image and performance.

They are interested in documenting, exploring and celebrating queerness, and dismantling the many barriers that our constructed, social world consists of. At the heart of their practice, is an exuberant celebration of life, with its endless possibilities for individual identity and expression.

Surrealist Weekends: Farleys in the Fifties

Painter Roland Penrose and photographer Lee Miller’s move to Farleys in 1949 was not to settle down but to create, entertain & inspire.

This exhibition will be shown in the Lee Miller Gallery and a book will be released to coincide with the opening.

Grace Pailthorpe – Chance Encounters in Colour

It is with great pleasure that we are exhibiting a selection of surrealist works by Grace Pailthorpe this Spring/Summer. The exhibition predominantly comprises of her late, incredibly vibrant watercolours, completed in the 1960s. These works explore her fascination with the subconscious, automatism and ‘Psycho-morphology.’

Dorothea Tanning: Printmaker

Following a major retrospective of her work at the Tate Modern in 2019, we are absolutely delighted to present an exhibition of prints by Dorothea Tanning in the Spring of 2022.

The Road is Wider than Long

In 1938, Lee Miller and Roland Penrose as new lovers made a trip together around the Balkans. This exhibition is a selection of their combined photography from their journey.

Barry Barker and David Nix – An Exhibition

This joint exhibition highlights the different ways artists and photographers might interpret Surrealism. David Nix exhibits a series of hauntingly beautiful salt prints, while Barry Barker exhibits his colourful, fun images of everyday work tools, re-imagined as fish in an aquatic fantasy. 

Marilyn Stafford – A Life in Photography

This retrospective exhibition of US born photographer, Marilyn Stafford (b.1925), encompasses a wide selection of work from her international archive spanning four decades from 1948-1980.

On display in the new Lee Miller Gallery which was opened in July 2020 to provide visitors with the unique opportunity to enjoy larger exhibitions here in Muddles Green.

Dreaming the Found

Both 2D and 3D works included in this exhibition, Dreaming the Found, present a personal narrative that is mythical in content, sometimes playful and often revealing a darker sub-text.

Fashion in Wartime Britain

In July 2020 we opened a spacious industrial warehouse opposite Farleys Gallery to provide visitors with the unique opportunity to enjoy larger exhibitions here in Muddles Green.
The Lee Miller Gallery shows international touring exhibitions from the Lee Miller Archives and exhibitions of established artists work.

From Waste to Wall

Collages created from numerous pieces of used scratch cards and other recycled materials for a colourful, striking effect.

Grim Glory: Lee Miller’s Britain at War

Arriving in Britain just as war was declared Lee Miller, an American with no permit to work, used her camera as her principle means of combat during World War II.

Surrealist Lee Miller

Surrealist before she knew of the movement. Lee Miller was one of the most original photographic artists of the 20th century, her Surrealist eye informed everything she did.  Lee Miller’s work presents the world in a way that encourages us to view it in a different manner. This exhibition is an attestation to Lee Miller’s Surrealist way of seeing.

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The Home Front

Photographer Melanie Friend has often documented the wider aspects of war. Her work The Home Front reflects on the links between the military and entertainment in the UK, with a particular focus on public air shows that take place at RAF bases and in the skies above seaside resorts.

Lee Miller & Picasso

New in 2020 was the opening of a Special Exhibition housed in the spacious industrial warehouse opposite Farleys Gallery. This space allowed us to show one of the international touring exhibitions created by the Lee Miller Archives and first up was Lee Miller & Picasso.

A Tale of Two Houses – Revisited

A Tale of Two Houses showcases photographs taken by Tony Tree of both Farleys House and Gallery and Charleston.

Lee Miller in Colour

The Lee Miller Archives are delighted to present this brand new exhibition celebrating the colour photography in the collections. Historically a black and white archive, these lesser known works will add a splash of colour to Farleys Gallery, with some images taken as early as the 1930’s.

Desmond Morris Bodyworks

We were delighted to show, BODYWORKS A Surrealist Anatomy, an exhibition of images by celebrated surrealist artist and zoologist Desmond Morris in Farleys Gallery in 2019.

Day trip to Farley Farm

We are very excited to present; Day Trip to Farley Farm a series of art works created especially for an exhibition in Farleys Gallery by Sir Peter Blake, who has been heralded as the Godfather of British Pop Art.

Deanland

This exhibition is a collaborative project between Alexander Johnson and John Brockliss.  Alex is a Laughton based artist who worked as Artist in Residence at Deanland Airfield, Sussex.  John is a Brighton based photographer and retired graphic designer.

MORE Light

Awakening of unseen images from the Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection. The Lee Miller Archives was founded after the discovery of negatives in the attic at Farleys.

Illustrated Mathematics

This exhibition provided a rare opportunity to see some of Sir Roger Penrose’s beautifully illustrated mathematical theories. Roger Penrose is best known as a mathematical physicist and for his contributions to the understanding of cosmology and general relativity.

Syrian Road

In 2008 Piers Metcalfe went on a road trip through the desert in Syria with his Syrian wife. Piers took some hauntingly beautiful photographs of their travels with a plastic toy camera.

Dreaming oneself awake

Eileen Agar (1899 – 1991) was a British painter and photographer associated with the Surrealist movement.  Her unique, personal style, led Paul Nash to suggest Roland Penrose and Herbert Read invite her to exhibit at the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition. This introduction began a lifelong friendship between Agar, Roland Penrose and Lee Miller.

Machinations

Quirky and ingenious moving artworks manifest Johnny’s love of animals and his interest in mythical creatures. All of the sculptures are made using found or salvaged junk and encourage some element of audience participation or intervention.

Lee Miller Studios, Inc. 1932 – 1934 New York

Created from works held here in the Lee Miller Archives this is a revealing focus on Lee Miller’s New York Studio work, where even in her portraiture her progressiveness and refusal to be bound by society’s expectations is evident.

Antony Penrose: 70 Years

An insight into the private work and travels of maker, artist, writer, photographer and film producer Antony Penrose.

Infinite Spirals and Joie de Vivre

Sheila Donaldson Walters was a friend and colleague of Roland’s at the ICA. She worked from her studio in Chelsea for nearly 50 years and brought colour and energy to all her artwork.

After Flying

Former aviator Tim Riddihough explores the shapes and textures of our world, illustrates his discoveries and populates it with magical creatures.

War and Friendship

A photographic exhibition to celebrate the centenary of David E. Scherman, Lee Miller’s fellow American Journalist and close friend.

Land and Sea

A journey along the Sussex coast, capturing the landmarks that occupy the space where the land meets the sea.

We’re Alive!

Celebrating life and immersing the viewer in a myriad of colours, shapes and textures.

A Tale of Two Houses

The Tale of Two Houses exhibition showcases photographs taken by Tony Tree of both Farley Farm and Charleston.

Beaches and Ruins

“I find the contrasts between fields, sea, harbour, and brick and beach a source of continuous fascination.”

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia is a joint exhibition by Sergei Furst and Francesca Ori, who have cross pollinated each other’s work in shared studios in Spain and England over the last decade.

Jobbing Photographer

Tony Tree has been a professional photographer for more than 50 years starting his career at House and Garden in the 1960s. Changing direction from interiors and studio work he then travelled the world as an assistant to many of the decade’s most famous fashion photographers including David Bailey and Helmut Newton working at Vogue.