New collaborative exhibition by Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane comes to Spike Island

Spike Island is excited to present Grey Unpleasant Land, a collaborative exhibition by artists Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane.

Grey Unpleasant Land examines the myth of England as a nation. Combining a range of media—including historical artefacts, speculative narratives, petitions to patrons and a deed of gift—Al-Maria and Ourahmane provide a unique lens through which to investigate the complex and often troubling nature of England’s cultural and historical landscape.

Produced over the course of two years, the exhibition addresses the elephant in the room. As migrants to the UK, Al-Maria and Ourahmane delve into the "grey areas" of England’s narrative, critically re-examining the stories that have been told—and continue to be told—about origins and belonging.

Central to the exhibition are the works Job Lot (late 1700s/2024) and Silver Service (1774/2024). In this diptych, the burden of inheritance is represented through the possessions of two living members of two very different English families. Graham Randles, the son of Liverpool pub owners, inherited 240 chamber pots, which were originally collected from auctions, markets and car boot sales to decorate the pub ceiling. These sit alongside Sir William Bellingham’s inheritance of George III silver, a 250-year-old collection stored in heavy trunks and recently retrieved from the vault of a NatWest bank in Stockport. Despite lore surrounding the family’s penchant for losing entire estates in card games, the inheritance miraculously survived intact into the 21st century. The diptych is set to go to auction in 2025.

Image: Birthright by Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane

In Birthright (2024), a pallet of Scottish sandstone weighing over one tonne hails from the same geological seam as the Stone of Scone – an ancient and historically significant symbol of Scottish and English monarchy – questioning the legitimacy of those who are born to rule. Alongside, A Blessing and a Betrayal (2024), a medieval stained-glass diptych, reimagines the biblical story of twin brothers Esau and Jacob. Depicting betrayal, sibling rivalry and territorial claims, the work reproduces an AI-generated text that offers an account of Esau's imaginary dream after his brother’s betrayal.

Elsewhere in the gallery, themes of ownership and class are explored through several works. Fly Tip (2024) presents a series of scavenged possessions illegally dumped in and around Bristol–containing contaminants, vacuum-sealed in purpose-built aluminium bags. Meanwhile, Curtain (2024) was retrieved from the bin outside 44 Kinnerton Street, Belgravia in 2020, as the mews house was undergoing estate clearance. With its imperial red velvet, the drawn curtain serves as a witness to the moral decay of England’s ruling classes.

Finally, Terra Nullius (2024) is an advertisement seeking landed gentry, published in The Spectator Magazine on 14 September 2024. The title refers to “nobody’s land” or a “territory without a master” – a term used in public international law to describe a space that can be inhabited but does not belong to any state. Through the advert, the artists wish to engage in conversation with land-owners, encouraging some to gift symbolic amounts of land across the country–not to a body but to nobody. This endeavour introduces a legal conundrum, as there is currently no framework for the formal disowning of land.

Together through this ambitious exhibition, Al-Maria and Ourahmane address England’s cultural narratives and social frameworks, inviting audiences to consider the malleability of national identity and the ongoing debates surrounding Britain’s legacy as a nation.