Exodus Crooks is a British-Jamaican multidisciplinary artist, educator, and writer based between the Midlands and the north coast of Jamaica. They have previously worked with Ikon Gallery, Vivid Projects, Serpentine Galleries, The New Art Gallery Walsall, the Film and Video Umbrella, iniva and the International Curators Forum. Exodus' solo exhibition Epiphany: Temporaire exhibited at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2024) and Block 336, London (2023). Exodus is one of the 15 Artists Council 2022–2025 members for a-n The Artist’s Information Company.
All that you touch, you change
Exodus Crooks Workshop
Exodus’ workshop, All that you touch, you change, draws inspiration from Anthea Hamilton’s onsite garden and the ecclesiastical architecture of Studio Voltaire’s Gallery to explore ideas of change and Transness.
Birmingham-based artist and educator Exodus Crooks is undertaking an artistic research project, Tendre, into support structures available to Black Trans people in the UK. As a springboard, the project utilises the motif of the emergency survival pack in visionary science fiction and pioneering Afrofuturist author Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.
Participants are invited to consider Octavia Butler’s proverbs of change and the parallels between change and Transness – as articulated in Dr Marquis Bey’s Black Trans Feminism – and to use artistic mark-making to explore, respond to and inform Exodus’ ongoing research and how it might be made visible in our surroundings.
This workshop has been created specifically for those who wish to be allies of Black Trans people and is an extension of Exodus’ ongoing practice of ‘having hard conversations softly’.
All that you touch, you change will include a grounding activity and a talk led by Exodus on their research. This will be followed by a creative activity exploring textures and shapes, mark-making, taking rubbings and silhouette collecting whilst exploring the architecture of different spaces. A communal lunch will follow.
No prior knowledge or creative experience is needed. Refreshments will be provided.
Studio Voltaire aligns with the Social Model of Disability. Ahead of your visit, here are some notes on access:
- Studio Voltaire has step-free access throughout the Event Studio, gallery, cafe, shop and garden.
- There is a dropped curb outside of the main entrance of our building and the front door is opened by a push button which is 95cm from the ground.
- We also have accessible toilets and baby change facilities available on the ground and first floor.
- All our toilets are self-enclosed and all-genders.
- The Gallery and our restaurant Crispin at Studio Voltaire will be open to the public on Saturday 14 June 2025
You can see further information on accessibility at Studio Voltaire here.
- The closest underground station is Clapham Common, but there is no step-free access. It is approximately a 3-minute walk away.
- Clapham South is the closest station with escalator access between the street and platform. It is roughly a 20-minute walk away.
- Clapham High Street is our nearest overground station, but there is no step-free access. It is approximately a 6-minute walk away.
- There is no parking on Nelson’s Row.
Further information on planning your visit can also be found here.
- Navigating the Arts with Exodus Crooks 2, Ort Gallery, 2022. Photographer Anisa Fazal
- Exodus Crooks, The Confession: Part 1, 2022. Image courtesy of the artist. Credit Katerzyna Perlak
- Exodus Crooks, Y: the symbol of man, 2023. Installation view at Castor Gallery. Image courtesy of the artist. Credit Katerzyna Perlak