The Box: Echoes of Us

This exhibition finishes on the 20th September 2026.

This exhibition features works from the government collection and is on display in St Luke's, opposite the main Box building.  The Government Collection is a fascinating thing.  It was established in 1899 and consists of nationally owned artworks.  These artworks grace the walls of national buildings, from no.10 Downing Street, British Embassies, Government Departments and the residencies of British Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Consulates-General.  The collection is also on loan to many other organisations, from shopping malls, libraries and sports venues.  The collection currently is on display across more than 125 countries.

New works by British artists or that reference British life continue to be collected.  The collection is seen as a soft form of diplomacy and is used to present our national identity around the world.  It is an important national resource that many people have no idea exists, although they may well have seen a piece held in the collection.

For this exhibition, the Box wanted to give young people a voice and eight people aged between 15 and 25 were selected.  They had a wide variety of interests and some of them had no previous involvement with the arts.  They were given access to the collection in order to select works for the exhibition.

Now I have no idea what art I would have chosen at that age, but I cannot imagine I would have been able to put together such a great selection.  This exhibition was coherent but incredibly varied, featuring so many different materials and stories.  There were some incredibly moving pieces chosen and some incredible stories chosen.  Quotes from the young people on why they chose a piece had been added to the walls and this added a great additional insight.

As you enter, you are greeted by an introduction to the exhibition and the painting We are nourished by the same water by Phoebe Boswell.  In 2020 Sport England produced a report which highlighted that 95% of black adults did not participate in swimming activities regularly.  Boswell invited people to come in groups or pairs, to feel comfortable in the water and she recorded this in her video Dwelling (2022).  She produced a series of paintings, based on stills from the video.  The painting is an underwater view of someone helping a young child to swim.  They both wear red swimming trunks .  The painting is a bold sweep of colour, that brings up an issue I had no idea existed.

As you pass this front partition, there are two bays on each side under the gallery and an open area down the middle leading to the glorious stained glass window.  In the centre were two large pieces of sculpture. 

UW84DC#7 by Richard Deacon, a Plymouth based artist, is an intriguing twist of ash planks, bent using steam and fastened together.  Richard's piece, Moor, is situated in Victoria Park and is very visible from the train after crossing the Tamar, and it looks like a left over piece of bridge structure, left behind.  

Rorschach (Endless Column III) by Cornelia Parker explores the conventions of class and cultural norms and behaviours.  Silver plated objects such as trophies, tray, cutlery and a candelabra were crushed in a press and they are suspended on threads in a line.  I found this piece curious.  It is not a comfortable thing.  My Gran was very conscious of class and she proudly displayed a variety of these objects on the sideboard in the dining room.  After her death, we looked at them rather more closely and discovered they were plated and so common as to be worthless.  Then there were the ivory salad servers she had been so proud of and a closer look showed them to be moulded plastic.  I have seen these pieces in so many houses, proudly displayed in cabinets, like they mean something.  Working houses where dinner was seldom eaten at a table and there really was no need for a set of such things.  Yet you visit a stately home and you will see their beautiful, and very long, dining room tables laid out with solid silver versions and lovely china, looking stunning.  There is a huge schism there

Beneath the main window there was a large television screen showing the short film Shifting / Spirit / Time by Julianinxx.  This film featured a number of black people wearing red, stood on a grand staircase.  They were singing the word Wai, led by the lady at the front.  The music was very beautiful and relaxing and was the soundtrack to my visit to the exhibition.  I would like to say more about the film but I find it hard to recall all the details and don't want to write things that are incorrect, especially as the concept is of cultural and spiritual importance to a community I do not belong to.

One of the pieces I found most moving and interesting was Where have you been? Where are you going? What are you doing? by Mark Titchner and the related video RIP SENI directed by Daisy Ifama.  Mark produced the piece following time spent working with the Mental Health and Justice Project.  The piece explores questions around capacity within mental health.  It consists of placards, a black post topped with a mirror with questions in black lettering.  These placards were placed on the edge of the grounds of Bethlem Royal Hospital, where it was at once part of the hospital but very visible to those passing by.

Of course, these questions are incredibly important and I am sure the artwork provoked a lot of thought in those passing, but what happened next was that the artwork evolved.  Someone used red spray paint to graffiti the boards.  R on the first, I on the second, P on the third.  The fourth was blank and then S on the fifth, E on the sixth, N on the seventh and I on the eight.  RIP SENI.

Seni was a young British man of African descent who was well educated and had a good family life.  He had no history of mental health issues, until things started to change.  He voluntarily took himself for help and found himself at Bethlem.  I don't think I am entirely clear on what happened at Bethlem but the end result was that Seni died there as a result of prolonged physical restraint in 2010.

The family were happy to see the graffiti, because of course, it meant someone was remembering Seni.  It added an extra layer to the art, brought in an additional story that cemented what the piece was trying to say.  The original, graffiti'd boards are held in the permanent collection of Bethlem Gallery, but a duplicate set of boards, without the graffiti, was added to the Government Collection.  These were on display along with the video RIP SENI, which tells the whole story of the piece and looks at race, mental health and deaths in custody.

Beyond this there were just so many pieces worth talking about for their interesting use of materials or the stories they highlighted.  Some were just stunningly beautiful or really interesting.  I will pick out a few more pieces, but it would not be possible to talk about the whole exhibition.  On a different day, I am sure my reactions and perceptions would shift.  

Red Me by Rita Keegan is a self portrait displaying her Caribbean and Canadian heritage.  It shows her against a red background, wearing black and jewellery with a very indigenous American feel.  I have friends in Canada, some of which have connections to a tribe.  I am very aware of the topic of cultural appropriation and I know I would not be comfortable wearing so much jewellery that I associate with a different culture.  But what if you grow up somewhere?  What if you have mixed heritage but it isn't obvious?  As a white person, I am aware of privilege and how the British Empire took so much and made it their own while also effectively wiping a lot of other things out.  

MMXXII by George Shaw is a stunning painting depicting a laburnam tree in flower.  I grew up in a house with a laburnum by the gate and it was stunning to see it in bloom.  Of course, we were taught from a young age not to touch as it is incredibly poisonous.  The painting uses Humbrol enamel paint, more usually seen on model trains and it gives an incredible effect.  The painting is at once colourful, glowing and soft.

Alberta Whittle's Celestial Meditations I and II are photo collages depicting imaginary spaces of Afrofuturism.  They are a riot of colour, shape and form.  I think it is important to look at a range of dreams for the future.  Things do not need to become homogenous and dull.

Gordon Cheung's The Rider was from a distance an extremely appealing image to me.  It shows a a cowboy riding a bucking bull in front of a sun near the horizon.  Although it is quite dark, it is full of neon colours.  Get up close to it though and it shifts completely.  The image has been printed on to paper from a stock market.  The tiny text on the paper gives an incredible texture that you see from a distance but do not realise what it is.  The technique of painting is quite graphic and again really interesting up close.  It cleverly references the term a bull market for when the stock market is strong.

James Lomax pieces Hoarding, Shuttering and Store Front don't at first glance look especially exciting but they really reward a closer look and some consideration.  They look like fairly monochrome paintings of letters on a floor but when you look more closely you discover they are actually cast concrete.  They have a three dimensional quality, that while minute, is very much discernible up close.  They are a result of a residency at HMP Grendon where envelopes have come to mean communication to Lomax.

James Robert Morrison's drawing, there is never more than a fag paper between them is both beautiful and fascinating.  It is a tender depiction of love and affection between two young men, with stunning technique and detail.  It is only on closer look, that you can see it is drawn on to a matrix of cigarette papers.  This must have required such a delicate touch and these papers are so small and delicate.

Next to this picture is a stainless steel drinking fountain set in to a resin block.  On it's own, this is not perhaps the most exciting of objects.  It is however a relic from a gay sauna that was part of a chain, now closed, in London.  As I was in the gallery, I was conscious of other people, at times.  As I neared this part of the exhibition I listened to a man talk about this object and it was obvious he recognised it and that it had personal meaning to him.   I think for me, it was witnessing this personal connection that brought this object alive.  It was preserved in this way because it was important.  It is not an aspect of our culture I am likely to experience but that does not make it any less important.

If I were to go back and see just one of the exhibitions currently at the box, this would be the one I would revisit....  I absolutely will have to look at the Government Art Collection website again, there is so much to see!