Creative group Matterlurgy held a special event at the Millennium Gallery this Wednesday evening to mark the opening of their new exhibition.
The launch event was held for a list of guests from 18:30-20:00, with the creative minds behind it present to answer people’s questions.
The display was curated by Helena Hunter and Mark Peter Wright in order to illustrate the importance of water to humans and how it is intertwined with community.
When questioned about the well dressing centrepiece, Hunter reflected how ‘the details were designed with some difficulty, because some flowers are challenging to source at this time of year’.
The pair worked in collaboration with a group in Youlgrave, who are well dressers that supported them in gathering material, which became a ‘practical issue of ensuring it could last in gallery conditions’.
Every aspect of the well dressing was hand-made and chosen with care, with a glass cabinet deconstructing every component and labelling all the organic matter.
Matterlurgy has established several works across the UK, most prominently at the University of Cambridge and the University of College London.
Speaking with attendees, there was a real buzz about the new exhibition with how it explores water-based structures in Yorkshire.
Clusters of people attending were standing in the circumference of the central display, almost creating a well around the well dressing.
There were several different displays, one showing a log book of burials from 1822 in Sheffield during an outbreak of Cholera.
Particular focus by attendees was given to the two large screens, which had videos of several key waterworks and reservoirs.
What came across from the mix of information and visual elements was that water and its infrastructure has been both a pillar of survival and death in Sheffield’s history.
The exhibition is open from 15 February to 12 May this year and is open alongside several other collections, such as Phlegm: Pandemic Diaries and the Ruskin Collection: Hand, Head and Heart.