The Seasonal Lag
18th - 20th April 2025
This year, the summer solstice will fall on the 21st of June - the longest window of light in the year, the longest period of day. Back in December, the winter solstice was marked on the 21st - that long winter hibernation wrapping up the world in night. However', these days are not the respective hottest and coldest days of the year, as one might expect - it’s not until weeks later that we are plunged into extraordinary frost or singed under the sun. This period of difference is The Seasonal Lag. Here at Jardin au Ermine, ‘The Seasonal Lag’ is the title of our debut exhibition. We have been delving into the themes of seasons, solstices, of change - dissociations and dreams in the shades of Pierre Bonnard.
ELIJAH DAVIDSON - ‘CONSCIOUS: ONE'. Life blurs by: everything and nothing colliding over and over. Seasons pass, the leaves darken and fall and rot and are green again. The body moves from place to place - childhood home, to first house, to Rome and New York and back, to memories in museums. It grows layers like the rings of a tree - ever small, ever large. This dissonance is Davidson’s Seasonal Lag. By revisiting these places, these moments, he confronts these seasons, slipping like sand in his hands, and finds it possible to hold on. In his layered paintings, these histories fade together, burning into one shared consciousness.
HAYDEN BEE - 'CENTRAL PARK'. The winter weather contradicts itself - Hayden Bee draws upon their time spent in New York this past February. Despite temperatures as low as -10°C, despite icy winds that made their fingertips shrivel, the sun was still shining brightly and casting a tiny bit of warmth upon the city. Streets littered with large pieces of ice and frozen snow, glowing under bright sunlight: a completely alien sight, the embodiment of the Seasonal Lag. Using a mix of acrylic paint, gouache and embroidery, Bee brings this time back home to number 58.
HAYDEN BEE - 'ELIJAH IN CONEY ISLAND'. The winter weather contradicts itself - Hayden Bee draws upon their time spent in New York this past February. Despite temperatures as low as -10°C, despite icy winds that made their fingertips shrivel, the sun was still shining brightly and casting a tiny bit of warmth upon the city. Streets littered with large pieces of ice and frozen snow, glowing under bright sunlight: a completely alien sight, the embodiment of the Seasonal Lag. Using a mix of acrylic paint, gouache and embroidery, Bee brings this time back home to number 58.
LILY BURKE - ‘FALSE SPRING (MARCH 6TH, MARCH 7TH)’. False Spring (March 6th, March 7th) is a piece created by Lily Burke exploring the misleading warmth that can often appear just before a tragedy hits. “March 6th, she came over; had a sit down in the kitchen, had something to eat. It surprised all of us, we thought she’d been unwell, of course we were happy to welcome her back in. It was warm outside, violets and dandelions creeping up where the snowdrops had been. March 7th, she passed away. It got cold again later that week.” False Spring is realised in both oil and acrylic.
LILY BURKE - ‘FALSE SPRING (MARCH 6TH, MARCH 7TH)’. False Spring (March 6th, March 7th) is a piece created by Lily Burke exploring the misleading warmth that can often appear just before a tragedy hits. “March 6th, she came over; had a sit down in the kitchen, had something to eat. It surprised all of us, we thought she’d been unwell, of course we were happy to welcome her back in. It was warm outside, violets and dandelions creeping up where the snowdrops had been. March 7th, she passed away. It got cold again later that week.” False Spring is realised in both oil and acrylic.
JESS BIRTWISTLE - ‘CHRYSALIS'. Cocoons represent transformation, protection and new beginnings, a safe shelter for growth - and representative of some people, who need more time to develop and come out of their shell. The baby, wrapped in the embrace of the cocoon, symbolizes the potential for growth: we all started life as a blank slate and it’s what we experience that shapes us. The cocoon was constructed using wire that was then soldered at each point of contact. The baby’s head was gently needle felted around a polystyrene ball and its body was papier mâche.
THOMAS MAY - ‘JUNK ANATOMY'. It’s in our nature: May’s upbringing in West Bromwich, in the shadow of the Industrial Revolution, informs his piece. We fill the world with rubbish- we fill ourselves with rubbish, as that is what we know. Our destruction touches the climate, splits the natural order apart. It’s in our nature, in our upbringing- killing the vital organs of the world.
BEE JONES - ‘HARVEST'. A fixation on the passive intimacy we would otherwise ignore. The closeness and trust in just doing a simple task together, and each move fitting like a jigsaw puzzle. An expression of devotion that spites time- these moments are a constant of divinity.
BECCA LINFORD - ‘STITCH THROUGH THE SEASONS'. The seasons cycle upon the clock - Linford’s work consists of an embroidery piece inspired by the iconology of each season subtly merging. Using various intricate stitches and colourings to communicate the changing season. Alongside this are 8 paintings, circling the seasons, a clock. The paintings consist of acrylic paint, seamlessly merging all the colours together to represent the seasonal lag.