Upcoming Exhibitions

We have the current TOMA 2024/25 cohort’s interim show Reject Reflect Reclaim coming up, info below.

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REJECT REFLECT RECLAIM

Challenge your perceptions and reconsider the familiar at Reject Reflect Reclaim, the new group show by The Other MA (TOMA) 24/25 cohort.

Beecroft Art Gallery, Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 6EX

22 February - 11 May 2025 from 11 - 5pm Wednesday to Sunday

Opening event: Saturday 22 February from 2-4.30pm

TOMA 2024/25 artists exhibiting…

Mark Amura | Becky Buchanan | Selena Chandler | Karen Christensen | Nathalie Coste | Lucy Daley | Sue Gascoyne |  Teddy Godwin | Ella Johnston | Majik | Zack Mennell | Jo Morrison | Martin Osman | Amy Ryall | Chanel Vegas

Reject Reflect Reclaim, an eclectic, evocative and thought-provoking group exhibition, opens at the Beecroft Art Gallery on February 22 2025. Presented by the current The Other MA (TOMA) 24-25 cohort, this debut show invites visitors to critically engage with and rethink the narratives preserved within the Beecroft Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

Responding to selected works from the gallery’s archive of more than 2,000 pieces, the fifteen-member TOMA cohort delve deep into subjects such as representation, violence, sexuality, gender, colonialism, and identity. Through a series of new works, the artists interrogate the archive and notable absences in the Beecroft collection. The works seek to shine a light on overlooked voices and histories, while showcasing a wide range of artistic responses and means of expression.   

Reject Reflect Reclaim is more than an exhibition; it is an act of reclamation. It encourages visitors to consider how collections such as the Beecroft’s are curated, remembered, and reimagined.

Please feel free to join us for the Reject Reflect Reclaim opening event from 2pm to 4.30pm on the 22nd of February at the Beecroft Gallery.

TOMA Takeover 

Reject Reflect Reclaim is accompanied by a TOMA Takeover of the Big Screen at Southend’s Focal Point Gallery. Each artist has created a 60-second film that will be screened daily from 22 February  to 21 March in Elmer Square, adjacent to Focal Point Gallery. The films will be screened 12-1pm and 3-4pm on rotation with other programming.

About Beecroft Art Gallery  

Located in Southend-on-Sea, the Beecroft Art Gallery boasts a permanent collection spanning centuries, from 17th-century Dutch masterpieces to contemporary works. Highlights include paintings by Molenaer, Ruisdael, and Berchem, as well as pieces by iconic British artists such as Rossetti, Constable, and Edward Lear. Local heritage is celebrated through the Thorpe Smith Collection of Southend landscapes and Alan Sorrell’s *Drawings of Nubia* series. 

About Big Screen 

Big Screen Southend is a purpose-built display screen made for presentation of artist commissions, live transmissions, and short and feature films relative to the cultural context of Southend, South Essex and further afield. The Big Screen plays from 10.00pm to 18.00pm Monday through to Sunday.

Open crits

*2023 dates TBA >>>

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As an extension of the TOMA education programme we host outward facing open crits as a way to connect & collaborate with more makers both locally & nationally. These spaces are a place for creatives to meet, support & learn from one another & we welcome anyone who has an interest in contemporary art & culture to join.

TOMA understands putting your work out there can be nerve wracking so these crits are a supportive space to develop & learn about the work you are making as well as support with practical advice for displaying, showing, reading & making work. Talking about it helps to give critical distance & resolve problems. Everyone is welcome to bring something to discuss or share - this can be an idea / the start of something / the middle of a project / the end of a piece / a springboard for an idea - we are all here to learn from each other, exchange knowledge & build communities.

Everyone who comes shows work, everyone is encouraged to feedback, there are no hierarchies here, & everyone gets 20 minutes to do with as they wish - present their practice / ask a question / show work and not talk / perform / read / screen some video work / play a sound work / encourage a discussion around a topic / ask for feedback.

All work is welcome for supportive critical feedback hosted and facilitated by TOMA artists - drawing / painting / text / print / photography / sculpture / sound / video / anything really - we are interested in the work you make, not your CV.