Skip to main content

England on Fire: A Visual Journey through Albion’s Psychic Landscape

7.15pm Tuesday 28 June 2022 

£12 / £7  concessions (Advance tickets)

Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL

Tube: Holborn

Directions

Mailing List

Facebook event page

'....magic and mazes, ghosts and gardens, shipwrecks and cities. '



Mat Osman (founding member of Suede, author of The Ruins) and world-renowned image hunter Stephen Ellcock discuss with Cathi Unsworth (and some special guests) the anarchic magic of their collaboration England on Fire. Here you will find depictions of ancient trackways, chalk carvings and standing stones, of animal-masked community rituals, of streets set ablaze in protest, of occult dreams and psychedelic prophecies.

Forget the tired gallery of lords and ladies, forget the tall ships and haywains. These images cut to the heart of England’s psychic landscapes to portray an Albion unhinged, where magic and rebellion and destruction are the horses to which the country is hitched. On these fabled shores we are all castaways.

Mat and Stephen explore magic and mazes, ghosts and gardens, shipwrecks and cities. These poetic renderings of a spectral isle, together with Stephen’s hallucinatory visual journey, reclaiming Albion as an eternally inspiring and anarchic domain - an England on fire.

Joining Mat, Stephen and Cathi to discuss their work will be Ben Edge, co-curator of the recent excellent Ritual Britain exhibition at St Pancras, ceramicist to fairyland and further Claire Partington and artist of the uncanny Dan Hillier who supplied the cover illustration, Fount, for England on Fire

England on Fire: A Visual Journey Through England's Psychic Landscape will be available on the night. It contains over 200 images by artists ranging from William Blake, J.M.W. Turner and Samuel Palmer to Paul Nash, Louis Wain, Bill Brandt, Derek Jarman and Ithell Colquhoun to present-day visionaries such as Paula Rego, Cathy de Monchaux, George Shaw, Jamie Reid, Matt Collishaw, Tacita Dean, Lina Iris Viktor, Yinka Shonibare, Nick Waplington, Dan Hillier, Nicola Tyson, Sutapa Biswas and Chila Kumari Burman. The mind-blowing selection of images is accompanied by short texts by Mat Osman.

7.15pm Tuesday 28 June 2022 

£12 / £7  concessions (Advance tickets)

Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL

Tube: Holborn

Directions

Mailing List

Facebook event page

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Time-Slips

  Time-Slips 26 November 2024 In the early years of the 20th century, two ladies visited the gardens of Versailles. Whilst there, they apparently slipped back in time to the late 18th century. They published a book describing their experience, which in later years was debunked as misperception and hallucination. Case closed. Or is it? There are a plethora of similar contemporary reports of apparent slips through time, from brief glimpses to full interactive experiences. Most reports describe features from the past, but a few describe possible slips forward in time. Dr Ann Winspe r has been researching people apparently travelling through time for the last 20 years. She describes some of these fascinating cases and looks at possible explanations, as well as how not all can be explained through misperception and psychology. Venue: The Bell 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Date: 26 November 2024 Doors: 7.30pm Start: 8pm Tickets: £5/£...

The Haunted Landscape 2025: Ghosts, Magic and Lore

Whose claws are scratching at the church door? What’s that ghost tumbling over the moor? Who’s that figure cut into the earth? What can I do to lift this curse?  Join us for a legendary trip through the seventh Haunted Landscape, our day of expert talks on British ghosts, magic, and folklore. Photo by Henrik L. on Unsplash The Haunted Landscape: Ghosts, Magic and Lore 22 November 2025 10 am - 5 pm  In advance: Standard £25 / Living Support £17 / Student £21 (inc. £2 venue levy) Advance Tickets Online: £12   (inc. £2 venue levy)  Advance Tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List Age Recommendation: All ages. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Photo by AJO JOSE on Unsplash E. Jay Gilbert – Ghost Stories and Their Afterlives Mark Norman – The Folklore of Churches and Churchyards Jeremy Harte – The Devil in Church Rachel Poulton – Unseen: In Search of the Sublime and Spirit of Place in the Haunted La...
  *** TUBE STRIKE *** Although the tube strike has been called off, we'd already shifted the date of our next meeting at the Bell, Jeremy Harte speaking on Gypsies and the Supernatural , from Tuesday July 25 to Tuesday August 1 . Please note that we're sticking with this new date.