fourteen days - Scott Brown, 4 - 26 July 2025
Image Credit: James Measom
“What does it mean to return to the place you wanted to leave behind?”
This exhibition presented the outcome of Scott Brown’s two-week residency at Mill 2 Gallery. Having grown up in Oldham, Scott left as a teenager and went on to study at Slade School of Fine Art in London. This residency offered him a chance to experience Oldham as it is today – a town undergoing significant change and development.
Over fourteen days, Scott explored Oldham and Osborne Mill, home to our gallery, through an intuitive process of gathering, combining, making, and responding.
Among the works presented were, a collection of collages featuring found objects and photographs, these elements taking on new meaning through their presentation in this location; organic and automatic drawing, a practice the artist had not explored before which emerged in direct response to being here; and objects tentatively placed on the floor forming a network of discarded items. Scott’s practice resists definition — its meaning is derived through making.
“I take images and physical materials liberally and indiscriminately, from varied sources, and remix them into new combinations, searching always for affective traces in that which already exists.”
Scott commented:
”My overall experience working with 1853 Studios was excellent; it felt like a very unique and special opportunity to focus fully on my art practice, in a supportive, pressure-free environment, whilst also engaging with my hometown and the local community.”
Follow Scott’s work via his website
As part of the public programme for this exhibition, we invited DIPACT to select one of their artists to respond to this exhibition. We worked closely with DIPACT and the selected artist Vian Hussein to produce a community food event and responsive workshop.
Vian expanded on the themes of childhood memory, resilience, and the passing of time to develop a workshop involving sewing memories onto a collection of 14 red textile panels.
Curated by Scott Brown and Luca Shaw (Creative Director + Curator).
Supported by: Kathy Smith (Assistant Creative Producer), Ben Lunt (Exhibition Technician), James Measom (Exhibition Photography), Mahboobeh Rajabi (DIPACT director)
This exhibition and public programme was made possible with support from public funding by National Lottery through Arts Council England.