Corded Lives
12th September - 1st November
Green Hill Arts presents Corded Lives, a powerful and emotionally resonant group exhibition curated by artist Carol Harvey, running from 12 September to 1 November 2025 in Moretonhampstead.
Corded Lives brings together a diverse group of artists to explore the intricate, fragile, and often contradictory experiences of early family life. Rather than focusing solely on the act of parenting, the exhibition turns our gaze toward children and childhood, asking what it means to live alongside young lives, and how those moments shape and shift our own.
“Parenthood isn’t one thing,” says curator Carol Harvey. “It’s complex. It’s joy and heartbreak. And it isn’t always something we choose - it can come through proximity, through siblings, or simply being a constant presence in a child’s world. These relationships leave lasting impressions, even when words fail.”
Carol Harvey’s own work anchors the show, including her haunting photograph Expectations featuring a hospital cot and curtain. “My practice examines what’s left behind the traces and spaces that hold our experiences,” she says. Carol has sought out others whose work touched on themes of fragility, presence, and the passage of time.
The exhibition features contributions from 14 artists whose practices span photography, sculpture, painting, mixed media and film, united by their emotional depth and narrative strength.
The artists in Corded Lives each bring their own perspectives, materials, and histories to the exhibition, offering intimate reflections on themes such as loss, separation, joy, expectation, and memory. Their works remind us of the fleeting nature of early childhood moments—and the invisible threads that continue to connect us long after those moments pass.
The exhibition's title, Corded Lives, refers to this enduring sense of connection. The “cord” is not always nurturing or even intact, but it is present. Whether through longing, estrangement, love, or resilience, these ties inform our sense of self and our place in the world.
Ultimately, Corded Lives is about the human impulse to create, to process, and to connect. “There is so much of our lives that can’t be said with words,” Harvey notes. “Through art, we create a hidden community - a shared history - even if no one speaks it aloud.”
Full list of participating artists is as follows: Ann Buckland, Anne-Marie Scott, Anthony Weaver, Carol Harvey, Harriet Brittaine, Ione Rucquoi, Janis Ridley, Joanna Jowet, Juliette Mills, Mellony Taper, Rach Cornish, Sarah May Rogers, Sharon James, and Sian Davey.
Entry is free. Green Hill Arts Gallery is open 10.00am - 4.00pm daily, from Wednesday to Saturday. The Gallery is situated at the top of Fore Street, Moretonhampstead, close to the Parish Church. Parking is in the Court Street and Station Road car parks.