Cherelle Sappleton is an award-winning British-Caribbean interdisciplinary artist based in Ramsgate (UK), working across collage, photography, sound and installation. Describing herself as ‘a cooperative and collection of organisms’, her practice is an ongoing investigation into the body's transformational capacity, and what it means to have a body, especially one that is categorised by society as being black and female.
A trained Sound Therapist with a background in experimental theatre, she uses music, movement and sound to tune into emotional states, a process which directs and informs her creative practice. Collage lies as a central concern and outcome of her practices, used as a technique and a lens through which all aspects of life are viewed. Whilst materials are used for their sensorial and sensual qualities, they also double as a substitute for her own body and identity. The act of deconstruction becomes one of digestion and mining, a method of understanding not just the material- sound, found images, fabric etc. but a way of understanding one’s self and claiming a place in the world.
Sappleton draws from a reservoir of purposeful bodily exercises using sound to slow down, attune and heighten her senses connecting to both internal and external stimuli. She turns away from the rational and allows her body to lead; In the artist’s own words ‘The body is speaking all the time, sometimes more loudly than others’. This approach opens up a personal reverence and appreciation for the body’s latent intelligence and capacity to heal and transform. This often manifests through implementing strategies associated with seduction and sensuality, proposing a way to view blackness and femininity from a place of possibility that is whole, open-ended, contrary and playful.
Although deeply invested in the realm of aesthetic experience, the work navigates the boundaries between the social and the political. It frequently incorporates discreet yet powerful elements drawn from diverse cultural symbols within different social domains, adding layers of significance to the artwork. These symbols, appearing as subtle yet powerful constituents within the work, serve as conduits through which a singular element, endowed with significant meaning in one particular context, expands to unveil a vast network of interwoven narratives spanning multiple contexts. Within the social and political, play is a necessary element that drives her artistic endeavour, it is through play, that one can delight in difference, resist oppressive systems and find liberation.
After earning an MA in Fine Art from the Central Saint Martins College of Arts in (2013), Sappleton was awarded the Denton’s Prize (2017). Her work has been exhibited both in the UK and internationally, with solo shows at Phoenix Gallery, Exeter and Sutton House, London. Group exhibitions include Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK; Hotel Michele, Margate and Summertime Gallery, New York amongst others. In addition to her exhibitions, Sappleton has been commissioned to create work for a variety of institutions and organizations, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, the National Trust, Hospital Rooms and the National Theatre. She has also completed several artist residencies, including the London Print Studio, Chisenhale Studios and the prestigious Florence Trust year-long artist residency. Sappleton's work is held in public and private collections, including the Soho House Art Collection. Her work was recently featured in Phaidon’s recent publication Vitamin C+: Collage in Contemporary Art (2023). She is also part of the Working Class Creatives Database.
If you'd like to support her creative practice, please donate via PayPal. All funds raised go towards materials, equipment and professional development.
Solo Exhibitions:
2020-Among Other Things, Phoenix Gallery, Exeter
2019- Semblance, Sutton House, London
2014 - Other, Wac Arts, London
Group Exhibitions:
Oct/Nov 2024- Give Away Your Relics, UCA Canterbury, Canterbury
Jul 2024- NOISE FOR NOW, Upstate Art Weekend, NY, USA
Nov - Dec 2022, Bunch, curated by Kavel Rafferty and Liminal Gallery, Hotel Michele, Margate, UK
Aug - Sept 2022, Getting Back to Normal - Utopia/Dystopia, East Bank, Queen Elizabeth Park, London, UK
June - Sept 2022, A Space For Healing, Giant, Bournemouth, UK
Dec 2021- Womxn of Colour Award, 198 Gallery, London, UK
Nov 2021-Darkness At Noon, APT Gallery, London, UK
Nov 2021- Hospital Rooms, Art + Psychiatric Care Exhibition, 30 Old Burlington Street, London, UK
Oct 2021- Open 2021, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK
Apr-May 2021 - Economy of Errors curated by Henry Hussey & Sophia Olver, OHSH Projects, London, UK
Sept 2020 - Fair Vanity curated by Lisa Slominski, Summertime Gallery, Brooklyn, USA
Oct/Nov 2019 -Night Garden, YngSpc online exhibition curated by Angeliki Kim Jonsson (Dynamisk) and Kate Mothes (Young Space)
Aug 2019 - We Sing The Body Electric, Gallery 46, London, UK
Mar 2019 - A Room Of One's Own, Koppel Project, Poland St, Soho, London, UK
Jun/ Jul 2018- Summer Open, The Florence Trust, London
Jun 2018- Goldbourne Gallery, London, UK
Feb 2018- Winter Open, The Florence Trust, London, UK
October 2017-Unfold Space, Church Street, London, UK
Feb 2017- 'Bright Young Tings', Lyttleton Lounge, National Theatre, London, UK
Oct 2016- Showcase (online), Photoworks, Brighton, UK
April 2016- 'Ways of being at hand', Salon Flux, London, UK
March 2016- 'Book', Curated by Petro Ryaska, Uzhgorod, Ukraine, UK
Performances:
Mar 2024- Big Mars Energy, Quench, Margate
Oct 2023- Barrowful x Barrow Music, FON, Barrow-In-Furness
Residencies/ Programmes:
Jun 2023-Feb 2024- Constellations, UPProjects & Flat Time House
Sept 2023- Barrowful x Barrow Music, Barrow-In-Furness
Mar 2019- Shortlisted for the Stuart Hall Foundation Residency
Feb - Jul 2019- London Print Studio Development Residency
Aug 2017- Aug 2018-The Florence Trust, London
Sept 2017- Chisenhale- Studio4, London
Jan 2017- Space4__, London
Sept 2015- Guest Projects (Yinka Shonibare Studios), London
Sept-Oct 2014- Wac Arts, London
Awards/Prizes/Commissions:
2023- Shortlisted for Photoworks x Ampersand Fellowship
2022- Gal-Dem magazine x V&A Museum, East Bank Commission
2021-2022 Great Ormond Street Hospital COVID Commemoration Commission
2020/ 2021- Hospital Rooms- PICU Titan Ward Commission
2019- South London Gallery- Big Family Press Commission lead artist
2019- National Trust Summer Exhibition Commission at Sutton House
2018- Winner of the Denton's Prize for emerging artists
2017/2018- Oppenheim Downes Trust
2017-Adidas UK, EQT 2017
2017- National Theatre Archive Commission
2016- Shortlisted for SPILL Festival National Platform
2016- Shortlisted for Photoworks Annual 23
2015- Y Foundation
2014- Runner up for the Secret Art Prize, Curious Duke Gallery,
2013- Shortlisted for Helen Scott Lidgett Studio award, associated with Acme Studios
2011/2012- South Square Trust Scholarship
2011/2012- South Square Trust Scholarship
2011/2012- Shortlisted for The Red Mansion Prize
2010- Shortlisted for 10 Gales Prize
Selected Press/ Publications:
2023- Vitamin C+: Collage in Contemporary Art published by Phaidon
2018- Bricks Magazine 'Brown Girls in an Art World’ by Ellen Atlanta
2014- Vagina Dentata, edited by Make8elieve and published by Les editions du Petit O
2013- Harper’s Bazaar China, December issue
2013- NeverLazy Magazine Winter issue, December
2013- Inhale Mag
2013- Trendland.com
2013- The Guardian online
Education:
2013- MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins
2011- Post Graduate Diploma, Byam Shaw School of Art
2006- BA Hons Creative Arts, Bath Spa School of Art
Several works are housed in public and private collections including the Soho House art collection.