Castlefield Gallery opens an exhibition about power, protest, memory and survival

Through large-scale print works, film and sculpture, this exhibition reflects on power, protest, memory, and survival. Exhibiting together for the first time, Ismail and Lake’s works weave together narratives that are at once personal, political and historical. Their work is as vibrant as it is fragile, with layers of texture and imagery inviting us to consider how histories of erasure and survival continue to shape the present - especially in a moment marked by war, censorship, and the criminalisation of protest. The artists say: “Against a backdrop of climate crisis, social inequality, political unrest, and the erosion of human rights, the proposed exhibition asks: what is the role of the artist in times of crisis?” Printmaking frequently acts as the starting point in Ismail’s work, which explores speculative ecology, memory, and the repetition of erased or hidden histories. Drawing on family archives and on her investigation into what she describes as Somali cult