Jocelyn McGregor: Mantle

Mantle was the first solo exhibition of Jocelyn McGregor which was hosted at Castlefield Gallery this February. McGregor's work covers a range of media that suit this exhibition; she chose to use sculpture, installation and animation. The way that the work was laid out in the gallery took you on a journey throughout the space; this made you intrigued as you discovered each work. On the first floor, you initially discover a small selection of what look like small insects sculpted from plastic nails as well as small fish that had been sculpted from other materials.

Once engaging with the upstairs area you move down the stairs to encounter what looked like a snail's habitat, with the foot mucus moving down the walls; making the space feel like another world where creatures inhabit. As you move around the space you found a number of animated videos, these are stop motion videos which blur the lines between reality and the fanatical (Castlefield Gallery, 2022). On researching McGregor, I found that her work was inspired by the horror genre and the human form, in this exhibition she combined the two to create animal-hybrid creatures. Within this exhibition, McGregor uses her work to recount a journey of self-evaluation and contemplation of life (Haven, 2022). When you move through the area on the lower floor, you get a sense of creation and life with the way the work is set out; it is almost like you breathe with the exhibition as you explore this otherworldly area.

The fragmented elements in McGregor's work suggest something inconsistent and incomplete at the heart of what humans are, and of nature itself (What's on Manchester, 2022).

As you move around the lower area there is what looks like a curtain hanging from the ceiling to the floor that mimics a separator from the different videos, yet you could see the whole space and still investigate the works. It reminds me of a cocoon, where life is created for some insects and animals; it emotes a sense of warmth, especially with the colour that the artist chose for the space.

Castlefield Gallery. 2022. Jocelyn McGregor: Mantle | Castlefield Gallery. [online] Available at: <https://www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/event/jocelyn-mcgregor-mantle/> [Accessed 27 April 2022].

Haven, B., 2022. Jocelyn McGregor: ‘Mantle’ – Exhibition Review. [online] The State of the Arts. Available at: <https://www.thestateofthearts.co.uk/features/jocelyn-mcgregor-mantle-exhibition-review/> [Accessed 3 May 2022].

What's on Manchester, 2022. Jocelyn McGregor: Mantle. [online] Visit Manchester. Available at: <https://www.visitmanchester.com/whats-on/jocelyn-mcgregor-mantle-p568101> [Accessed 4 May 2022].