Hear from May Hands and Hannah Lees during their 'Making Sites' residency as they share their discoveries of the South Downs floral landscape, associated symbolism and the medicinal properties of native flowers to Eastbourne. 

Working collaboratively, artists May Hands and Hannah Lees explore site-specific working and their ongoing mutual curiosity of ritual, death and rebirth. Together they are researching further rituals that happen during the wheel of the year to create a multifaceted installation of textiles, sculpture, and various natural ephemera. Hannah and May were in-residence at VOLT gallery from 26 to 29 September 2024. Returning late Spring, they will continue to make work in response to Eastbourne, with sites including Rooted Community Food at Gorringe Allotments and around Black Robin Farm on the South Downs.

Hosted within The Reason for Flowers, a group exhibition considering flowers as motif, material, symbol and subject, bringing together emerging and established artists who primarily live and work on the South Coast or have connections with the area.

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Hannah Lees (b. 1983, Kent, UK. Lives and works in Margate, UK) investigates ideas of cycles, constancy and mortality; the sense that things come to an end and the potential for new beginnings. This constancy, be it in religion, science, history or in organic matter, is visible in her practice through her attempts to make sense of and recognise traces of life. Traditional processes, materials and rituals are often reworked to explore how ideas and beliefs can live, die and be reborn across times and Cultures.

May Hands (b.1990, Brighton, UK. Lives and works in Folkestone, UK) explores how our relationship with materiality shapes our understanding of the world. She documents and collects observations of the world around her through traditional craft-based techniques and the collecting and reinterpreting of objects. Reflecting upon seasonal cycles, sensuality and the inherently curated aspect of our everyday consumptions, her work questions how society constructs and articulates value and desire.

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Making Sites 

This is the inaugural project in a new series Making Sites; artist-led residencies hosted between Devonshire Collective and Towner Eastbourne. The series invites creative practitioners to engage with local materials, stories and the landscape, fostering collaboration between artists, organisations and publics. 

Designed and facilitated by Esther Collins (Head of Learning, Towner) and Polly Wright (Curator, Devonshire Collective), Making Sites is shaped with participating practitioners and supports artists to respond to Eastbourne and its surrounding areas, inviting projects to develop over time, through multiple visits and seasonal returns. 

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