Jem Southam: Ray’s Sheds - The Hidden Work of Ray Exworth

Kestle Barton, Helford        10/9/16 - 29/10/16

'Born in Ipswich in 1930, Ray Exworth studied at the Royal College of Art from 1955 to 1959. Twice awarded the Arts Council Major Award, he lectured at the Royal College of Art, Royal Academy Sculpture School and Falmouth School of Art. For over forty years he lived and worked in relative seclusion at his home in Cornwall.

In 2011 Kestle Barton made a landmark exhibition documenting the work of Ray Exworth, including some large scale photographs of his work by Jem Southam. In 2015 Ray Exworth died, leaving behind his wife, Susie, and the Wroxham Trust to oversee the legacy of his estate; including The Circus, still unseen.

Jem Southam, currently Professor of Photography at Plymouth University, a very fine and widely collected photographer and close friend of Ray and Susie, visited regularly during the 1980s and in so doing was able to make a remarkable series of photographs of Ray’s work. Now Jem Southam has returned to Ray’s sheds with his camera, his memories of Ray, and a renewed desire to document and share this lifetime’s work'.