From Below

SLQS Gallery presents From Below, Beverley Duckworth’s first solo exhibition.

From Below is a quiet unfolding that positions seeds as agents of disruption, emergence, and subtle resistance. The exhibition centres on a series of living Seed Drawings, created through the act of sowing seeds in intricate patterns on hanging cloth panels. As the seedlings germinate and grow, the artist’s designs slowly unravel through nature writing its own form.

The installation cultivates an immersive environment: the scent of damp earth hangs in the air; stillness dominates, broken by the occasional sound of trickling water from a concealed irrigation system.

Alongside the living works, preserved Seed Drawings act as archives which reveal roots that have traced their own, unexpected paths. Sculptural root forms expose the latent power of what lies beneath.

The exhibition’s focus on subterranean systems extends through root networks mapped onto sites of historic political protest. Encased in copper, a mineral essential to plant life yet toxic in excess, these works articulate the dual capacity of systems to sustain and suppress. The works position the root as both witness and agent, generating alternative cartographies of dissent from below the surface.

In this moment of ecological crisis and political fracture, From Below offers a slow, powerful reflection on resistance, inviting viewers to consider how even the smallest acts of emergence can begin to shift the ground.