Cathy's Art Diary

Varied exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society of work by members of the Royal Photographic Society showcasing international work. There was a real mix of subjects and techniques in this show many with intriguing stories. I loved this slightly surreal image by Kate Schultze which captures the moment the chimneys of Ferrybridge Power Station were demolished in 2021 as well as two images of young men one by Ryan O'Toole Collet and another by Peter Holliday. I think my favourite was this joyful image of a child with their eyes covered by hands with googly eyes by Hyunmin Ryu which made me smile. Closed 28 April 2026

Delightful exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society of work by members of the Wilderness Art Collective, 15 contemporary artists working on or with landscape. There was a great variety of work in this small show cleverly arranged and hung to make it feel more spacious and to give each artist their own space. The works did make me think about landscape and the environment in quite a visceral way. Shown here is an installation by Louise Ann Wilson originally for Dorothy Wordsworth’s bedroom at Royal Mount which felt like an intellectual Tracey Emin “Bed”.   It shows how Dorothy used memory to transport herself into the landscape from her bed. I liked Brian Thompson’s small stratified sculptures of rivers and mountains   and Peter Geraerts stunning Arctic and Antarctic photographs with a hyperreal feel to them in their clarity. I had a fascination conversation at the end with Catalina Christensen who had a display of metal and earth pigments she had collected...

Interesting exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society featuring work by Natasha Kumar and Paul Vanstone. Natasha’s works were prints based on Indian chhatris and based on the concentric circles formed by the underside of their domes. The prints were in different colour combinations and each colour looked quite different. Some featured dancing figures in the circles which were meant to represent figures dancing between heaven and hell. Paul’s works were lovely sculptures mainly of long female torsos. They were very tactile and I particularly liked the ridged figures which looked like they were in Greek clothing. Just a comment though, if an exhibition is advertising that it is on until 5pm on a certain date, then it is frankly rude to be dismantling it at 10.30 that morning. I did still pick my way through the boxes to have a look but it did not feel welcoming! I wasn’t the only person who had come specifically to see the exhibition who was disappointed.