Affinity without Finality – INTER_CHANGE Artists

Zivarna Murphy is a research-based ceramic artist. Having trained in Medical Anthropology and holding a PhD in Human Sciences she brings emergent themes from her research around the social aspects of body and organ donation, namely loss, grief, continuing bonds, transformation, and emotion, into her ceramic vessels. On visits to her local East Yorkshire coastline, she observes the erosion and loss of this landscape body as a metaphor for human loss. Zivarna hand-forms her tactile vessels from stoneware, layered with eroded wild boulder clay and impressed shells, rocks and fossils, all gathered from this coastline, imbuing each piece with a strong sense of place and connection. The forms draw upon structures she sees in her local landscape such as fossilised shell bodies, ebbing cliffs and sea formed rocks. She is interested in firing as a transformative process and the becoming of the vessel body. 

The Echo Of An Empty Shell draws upon the often-voiced fear that body and organ donors will be left as empty shells. Zivarna explores this sentiment through the making of ‘empty’ shells from clay. By adopting the position of the shell maker, Zivarna is then able to donate these handmade ceramic shell vessels to foster a connection with exhibition attendees. Attendees are invited to take a moment to sit and carefully feel, listen, smell, hear, share and remember with the shell vessels. We can sustain a connection and relationship with the empty ceramic shells and the earth they are made of, which represent a continuing bond with both loved ones and the landscape after they are lost – we can hold on while letting go. They continue to echo and there are many ways we can receive what they are telling us. 

@zivarnamurphyceramics

Chloe Barker’s practice seeks to document lived experiences through collections of illustrations. Her works manifest as individual drawings or books that embody a tender yet playful narrative throughout. With an interest in remembering and reminiscing, her works take on the role of archiving conversations, ideas and memories. Symbolism aids her practice through drawing bear motifs a dialogue about comfort is formed. Barker’s works have investigated; comfort, control, love, distance, friendship and collectivism. Her latest body of work commissioned by Humber Street Gallery examines closely her own friendships, reflecting upon memories shared with them. Barker seeks to understand the symbiosis between platonic love and comfort, her abstracted drawings offer insight into personal memories, whilst reviving the emotions that follow platonic love.  

I Miss You and I Love You seeks to pay homage to the comfort and tenderness present within platonic love. The works are built from personal memories and experiences, with Barker’s own friendships operating as the starting point for her drawings. The use of vibrant oil pastels emphasises her unconditional admiration and love for her friends, whilst exploring distance, closeness and comfort. Through considering her relationship with platonic love, Barker is reminded of the alternating distance between herself and her friends. 

@chloe__barker

Isaac Yeboah is an artist from Ghana living and working in Hull. His artworks are an abstract representation of his immediate experiences inspired by culture, fantasy, nature, mystery and the metaphysical which all intricately weave together a captivating imagery. Using clay, the ballpoint pen as a medium on paper, canvas or synthetic leather, Isaac blends past and contemporary ideas and breathes life into vivid abstract imagery rich in detail and meaning.  

He is a product of the Art Faculty at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he earned a BA Industrial Art (Ceramics). He was a top ten shortlist artist of the 2017 Kuenyehia Prize for Contemporary Ghanaian Art and Barclays L’Atelier Art Prize. In 2022, he had his first Solo Exhibition titled ‘Mere Reminiscence’ at the Goethe-Institut, Cantonments – Accra. In late 2023 and early 2024, he has participated in group exhibitions at The Open Gallery – Halifax, Artizan Gallery – Torquay, The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art – Conwy, Wales, Ferens Open Exhibition and HARI Review.  

Ese ne Tekrema means teeth and tongue. These conversations elicit moments of confrontations with self and the other, being pushed into places where all the definitions of themselves are suspicious, being stripped, made very lean to see what each other is made of and only then will maturity be achieved. 

For Yeboah, the value of friendship is something that must be earned between the parties involved. This goal can be achieved by constantly working on each other through dialogues.  

In Ese ne Tekrema, the depiction of symbolism in pottery and drawing representing friendship between two diametrically opposed individuals, which is also a metaphor for countries, continents, cultures, histories, religions or ideologies. 

@nashism_art

Emily Fratson is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in ceramics, textiles, and drawing. Her practice explores themes of grief, identity, and the duality of inheritance, often engaging with symbolism and the material histories embedded in her chosen mediums. Central to her work is the concept of “second friendship’ or the relationship that emerges after the loss of a loved one, where connections deepen and legacies continue to unfold.  

Through clay, fabric, and mark-making, Fratson creates objects that hold space for memory, absence, and renewal. She is drawn to the ways inheritance can function as both burden and gift, and how material gestures can carry stories of kinship across generations. Fratson earned her BA in Visual Art from Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi (2015), and continues to develop a body of work that reflects on the ways we sustain connectionthrough both tangible and intangible forms of legacy. 

(W)rest Your Bones reflects on friendship as a form of labour and lineage. Drawing from the artist’s bond with their grandmother—a quilter from the Mississippi Delta—the work explores the idea of a “second friendship,” a connection that endures beyond distance or death. Using materials such as cotton, iron, and quilt motifs, the installation weaves themes of grief, inheritance, and the complicated histories embedded in fabric. The double-sided textile, floor cushions, and accompanying book of poems invite rest and reflection, transforming acts of making and mourning into gestures of care and continued conversation.

@emily_fratson

Victoria Smith (1999) is a photographic artist, whose practice spans across analogue and digital technologies, from commercial work (music/weddings/events) to conceptual darkroom experimentations. Through a diverse range of exhibitions, residencies, and commissions, her work offers a nuanced perspective on both personal and collective narratives, often addressesing themes of memory and time through objects and photography.  

Smith’s work is often collaborative, and her residencies reflect her commitment to community engagement and cultural exchange. In 2023, Victoria completed a 12-week residency at Fireground in Rochdale, focusing on the role of photography in the fire service, with the outcome of an artist film and exhibition. She was also a key participant in the EUNIC Photographic Residency in Bangkok (2019), working alongside Thai photographers to create work that explored the theme of Walls & Beyond which progressed to an exhibition in France. Victoria also curates community driven photography exhibitions around Hull to offer support to photographers and raise money for charities that support local creative arts.  

The Art of Gift Giving is an exploration into the currency of friendship. Smith selected gifts given to her from friends and family and reimagined them using the cameraless analogue method, photograms. The gifts are reconstructed using prints made in the darkroom. As Smith spent time in the darkroom, the space itself offered gifts: peace, solitude, meditation, and photographs found in the darkroom bin that felt like dreaming. Smith created a short video merging the orphaned images, a poem, and her own work to interpret this moment. 

@victoriasmith.uk

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