We are delighted to announce two major exhibitions sharing our Upper Gallery spaces this spring. From 23 May to 16 August, Kira Freije presents Unspeak the Chorus and Olivia Plender presents Little Fennel’s Complaint. One ticket gives you access to both exhibitions, so you can experience both artists’ work in a single visit.
Marking our 60th Anniversary year, these exhibitions bring together bold new work and experimental approaches, reflecting Oxford’s unique historical, intellectual and cultural heritage.
November 2025. Photo: Lewis Ronald
Nominated for the 2026 Turner Prize, Unspeak the Chorus is the first major UK solo exhibition by Kira Freije, co-commissioned with The Hepworth Wakefield, in collaboration with KINDL.
Life-size, hand-welded metal figures – alongside animals and textiles – transform the space into an immersive, emotionally charged environment. Intimate groupings suggest fragments of connection, care and grief, inviting your own interpretation.
Quietly compelling sculptures…bringing new life to the art world” – British Vogue
In Upper Galleries 2 & 3, Little Fennel’s Complaint is an ambitious new commission by Olivia Plender – her first UK institutional solo presentation since 2013.
Plender explores historic and ongoing inequalities in women’s healthcare, from early modern witchcraft to contemporary debates on reproductive rights and medical authority. Across embroidered textiles, watercolours, drawings, mobiles, and sound works, she examines how women’s healthcare has been recorded, classified, and practised over time.
In the grim context of our present moment, Plender’s research into feminist histories fit to be celebrated and calls to self-organise feel shockingly radical and urgent.’ – Frieze