Group exhibition reflecting on origin & belonging, via an imagined coast...
11am - 5pm
The Coast of Bohemia takes its title from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, in which he famously imagines a coastline in Bohemia, a geographical impossibility, as the real Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) is landlocked. This poetic contradiction lies at the heart of the exhibition.
The project emerged from a series of conversations between Geoff Sawers, Caroline Streatfield, and Kristin Rawcliffe about grief and loss, following the death of Streatfield’s mother, who was born in Czechoslovakia. When she first arrived in the UK and encountered the sea, she was so overwhelmed that she ran away. Yet the sea remained a lifelong fascination, one she later explored through poetry and by living near both river and coast.
In her later years, Caroline Streatfield’s mother lived by the River Thames, its currents echoing the rivers of Slovakia. The exhibition’s journey mirrors this movement of water, completing a symbolic passage by travelling from Reading to Margate. Margate was the last place Caroline visited with her mother; it was here that her mother took her to the beach shelter where T.S. Eliot wrote The Waste Land.
Bringing together 27 artists, predominantly painters, The Coast of Bohemia reflects collectively on memory, displacement, and emotional geography. The exhibition is curated by Caroline Streatfield, with assistance from Kristin Rawcliffe.
At its core, the exhibition considers how we are bound together through nature, memory, and loss. It invites viewers to reflect on how water, river, sea, or imagined coast, shapes our sense of origin, belonging, and return.
Exhibiting artists:
Anderson Asteclines, Bhajan Hunjan, Caroline Streatfield, Carolyn Blake, David Streatfield, Fiona G Roberts, Gabriela Max, Geraint Evans, Graham Stewart, Heather McAteer, Howard Rogers, Jake Clark, Jan Sugden, Joe Packer, Karl Bielik, Kieran Rook, Kristin Rawcliffe, Laura de Moxom, Mat Clum, Nelson Diplexcito, Nicole Price, Peter Driver, Richard Bentley, Shaun Stamp, Sue Cohen, Suzanne Stallard, Tommy McMahon.
'The Timekeeper' by Tommy McMahon.
Free
Address
The Ghost of Bohemia at Joseph Wales Studios 17-19/04/26
Joseph Wales Studios, 2a Dane Hill, Margate
CT9 1QP
Contact
Links
