91¶¶Òõ

Explore What Remains with curator Laura Moseley in a relaxed, small-group tour. Together we'll look closely at the artworks, discuss the exhibition's themes and research, and consider how contemporary artists continue to work with feminist histories, archives and memory.

91¶¶Òõ the exhibition

What Remains marks the 40th anniversary of the first artwork acquired by 91¶¶Òõ: Extase (1986) by artist and writer Mary Kelly (b. 1941).

Taking this work as its starting point, What Remains brings together works by contemporary artists working across archives, personal and collective histories, and material traces of the past. They ask what endures, what is forgotten, and how activist histories continue to be reimagined.

Rather than treating history as something to preserve unchanged, the works in this exhibition activate it as a living resource. They reveal history as contested, incomplete, and continually rewritten—inviting us to consider how identities are formed, whose stories are remembered, and how art can open new ways of imagining the future.

Created during Kelly’s residency at 91¶¶Òõ (then New Hall) and Kettle’s Yard in 1985–86, Extase became the foundation of The Women’s Art Collection and remains a key work in its history.

Extase forms part of Kelly's larger installation Interim (1984–89), a multipart work that, rather than presenting history or subjectivity as complete or settled, proposes the interim as a space of transition, uncertainty, and possibility—where meanings remain open and identities continue to be shaped.

Three accompanying display cases expand the exhibition through archival material drawn from The Women’s Art Collection, Kettle’s Yard, Glasgow Women’s Library, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge Women’s Resource Centre and private collections. Together, they trace the exhibition’s historical and intellectual contexts, from documents relating to Mary Kelly’s 1985–86 residency, to the books, publications and activist ephemera that have informed the exhibiting artists’ research. Featuring feminist health manuals, magazines and zines, the displays highlight the vital role of independent publishing, archives and collective knowledge in shaping feminist artistic practice across generations.

Artists: Lorna Hamilton-Brown, Rachael House, Sarah-Joy Ford, Ellen Lesperance, Helen de Main, Sadé Mica, Kelly O’Brien, Olivia Plender and Ebun Sodipo