Bloc Billboard: Chris Alton & Emily Simpson
22 January - 23 May
Free & Open to All
Grief must be Love with Nowhere to Go is a collaborative billboard commission for Bloc Projects by artists Chris Alton and Emily Simpson.
Over the last two years, the artists have been organising gatherings to explore the different emotional and linguistic aspects of grief – particularly bereavement – that are consciously life-affirming: what does life look and feel like after the death of someone or something dear? Unreliable, complicated and persistent, Chris & Emily seek to demonstrate grief’s mutability in a billboard work that will similarly shift over its four-month lifespan. We invite you to pay it a visit every few weeks to check in on it, to tap into the many dimensions of the losses we harbour.
To find out more about how the artists’ own journey of bringing grief into their practices, have a listen to the audio above. Also available as a QR code in situ.
Installed outside our gallery space on Eyre Lane, it is available to view at any time of day from 23 Jan - 23 May.
Chris Alton & Emily Simpson have been working on a series of collaborative projects regarding grief and language since 2021. Having each been through a signifcant loss in their mid-20s, Chris & Emily found the English vocabulary for communicating grief and loss to be inadequate. By speaking with others about their experiences they hope to find common ground and feel out new vocabulary. They have hosted dinners, events, and conversations, which have been shared publicly through posters and publications.
Emily Simpson is an artist and curator from Manchester. Their work looks at love, lols and loss; explored through textiles, writing, zines, events, print-making and curation. Emily is currently producing a book about trying to 'live their best life' whilst living with loss.
Chris Alton is an artist, based in Manchester. His practice spans a range of media and approaches, including; socially engaged projects, video essays, textile banners, and publications. Each of his projects addresses an array of interconnected social, political, economic and environmental concerns.