'At The Flood', curated by Gilly Fox, Hayward Gallery Touring with TondoCosmic, at The Union Club, 50 Greek St, London.

Oct 14

2 min read

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the ﬂood, leads on to fortune.”

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

TONDOCOSMIC PRESENTS:

At The Flood

Curated by Gilly Fox

TondoCosmic is delighted to present a new exhibition by Flora Parrott, Sarah Longworth-West, Jo Chate and Tamsin Morse, curated by Gilly Fox, Associate Curator, Hayward Gallery Touring. We are generously hosted by Roz Arratoon, on behalf of The Union Club.

https://www.tondocosmic.com/

Opens 29 September | Closes Friday 6 November 2026

Monday to Friday | 10am to 5pm

Text by Gilly Fox

At the Flood features four artists, Jo Chate, Sarah Longworth-West, Tamsin Morse, and Flora Parrott, whose seemingly effortless practices belie the toil, trial, and error that prefigure each composition. Through paintings, collages, and works on paper, these four artists demonstrate how years of experimentation, successes, and failures in the studio can lead to a mature and distinctive mastery of process, style, and technique.

Despite what some would have you believe, no one is born an artist. It is a skill nurtured through quotidian practice, and a calling fueled by curiosity to understand both the world and themselves. What is rarely considered when we see the final work presented is the journey the artist may have gone upon to arrive at this place - the small eureka flashes, that turn happy accidents into foundational shifts in understanding and progression. It can come from little moments, such as drying times, or the humidity when making your canvas bases; the point when erasure will leave just the right amount of residue from previous paint when lifted away; junctures where certainty and randomness can combine with confidence to create each image. At the Flood signals a moment in all these women’s careers where this important developmental time spent is coming to fruition through ever increasing recognition, exhibitions and awards, after years honing their craft.

Supported by the artists’ collective, TondoCosmic, the intent of the exhibition is to look beyond the image to consider how the work, as a whole, draws observers into the process of making. Individual process is not something that can be taught directly, although the tools to experiment can be given by mentorship or education. Instead, it is the adaptation of these tools that takes years of failure, versatility, and devotion to create the confidence and knowledge for the artist to take ownership of their approach and adapt to individual workmanship.