Undergrowth
13 January – 8 March 2026
Undergrowth as a concept can be utilised to reflect on the hidden often overlooked layers of existence – narrative spaces that hold complexity and vitality, undergrowth as what persists beneath the visible structures of society. Ideas and processes create a dialogue between language, nature, and the physicality of the material at the unruly margins.
Curated by Elizabeth Jackson and Emily Stapleton Jefferis, this exhibition grows out of a mutual interest in undergrowth as both a conceptual framework and a living ecosystem, informed by speculative fiction, vegetal philosophy and embodied material knowledge.
Engaging imagination and material understanding to contemporary environmental concerns, Undergrowth brings together artists who use clay to build open, associative narratives rather than straightforward representation. They exemplify the rhythms, resilience, and mutual entanglements of ceramic object making and vegetal thinking.
The work in the exhibition interacts with a structured grid, inviting viewers to engage with the work from multiple angles, the ceramic objects resist this uniformity, organic forms break free from this constraint. This is where the unseen energies of the natural world emerge as quiet, powerful presences within the gallery space.
Exhibiting artists: Elizabeth Jackson, Emily Stapleton Jefferis, Jo Pearl, Lisa Hellrup, Meichen Chen, Mingshu Li, Raphael Emine, Safia Hijos, Sisse Holst Pedersen
Artists
Elizabeth Jackson
https://www.ejackson.online
Elizabeth Jackson lives and works in London. In 2013 she graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins and in 2021 with an MA in Ceramics & Glass from the Royal College of Art. She has taken part in residencies and exhibitions internationally and in the UK, including the Ingram Prize and British Ceramics Biennial.
Emily Stapleton Jefferis
https://www.emilystapletonjefferis.co.uk/
Emily Stapleton-Jefferis graduated in 2018 with an MA in Ceramics and Glass from The Royal College of Art, where she was awarded The Griffin Scholarship and The Eduardo Paolozzi Travel Award. Since graduating Emily has been developing her sculptural practice focusing on ceramics, and her socially engaged practice where she works across many mediums with a wide range of people.
Jo Pearl
Jo Pearl graduated in Ceramics from Central Saint Martins in 2019 and is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. Exhibitions include Somerset House’s SOIL: The World at our Feet, and upcoming Soil Art Tales, a European travelling show 2026-27. Her claymation WhyTheFace? won Best Short Film at the 2023 ICF in Aberystwyth.
Lisa Hellrup
Lisa Hellrup is a ceramic artist based in Sweden. Hellrup holds an MA in Ceramics & Glass from the RCA and was recently selected an Ingram finalist. She has exhibited widely in Sweden and internationally, including solo shows in Stockholm and Los Angeles, and group exhibitions such as Ceramic Brussels and Unit 1 Gallery in London. Her work is represented in public collections including the Public Art Agency Sweden. She has received several grants, among them Helge Ax:son Johnson.
Meichen Chen
Meichen, born in China in 1998 and now residing in London, is crafting narratives of upheaval and transformation. Her art portrays mutated life forms emerging within human environments, challenging anthropocentrism and prompting reflection on ecological exploitation. Drawing inspiration from real-world phenomena like oil spills and genetic modification, Meichen reimagines these impacts as the genesis of new, organic beings. Amid ecological crises, her sculptures depict the evolution and proliferation of these entities, symbolising nature’s resilience and quest for autonomy.
Mingshu Li
Oslo-based Chinese ceramic artist Mingshu Li (MA, KHiO 2020) explores how clay can be used as medium to reflect on who she is and where she lives. Her works are in collections at KODE Art Museum, Jingdezhen Ceramic University Museum, and MIC Faenza Museum.
Raphael Emine
http://www.raphaelemine.com
Inspired by the writings of British anthropologist Tim Ingold or French landscape designer Gilles Clément, Raphaël Emine’s work aims to break down the boundaries between theoretical knowledge and practice. The artist seeks to transcend the traditional boundaries between these domains by integrating reflections on biology and the living into his sculptural practice, primarily through ceramics. In his sculptures, he merges traditional clay modeling techniques with contemporary technologies such as 3D printing. This combination allows him to create complex forms, inspired by mathematical principles, botany, entomology, as well as human-shaped architectures and animal constructions.
Sisse Holst Pedersen
Danish ceramic artist Sisse Holst Pedersen, educated at KADK- Bornholm and Gerrit Rietveld Academie. She has shown work across Denmark and Europe, including Four Boxes, Art Rotterdam, and Jiuba Art Space. She has participated in residencies at SB6A, OTTE, and Kirsten KjærsMuseum and is a two-time recipient of the Danish Arts Foundation’s working grant.
safia hijos
French, born in 1975, Safia Hijos lives and works in Nîmes. She obtained a master’s degree in ceramics, from a Brussels art school. In 2019, she received the Grand Prize at the Vallauris Biennale. Recently, she did a residency at Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory. For the last ten years, she has been working on the representation of plants.
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