Wild Volk

Curated by Sooxanne Rolf

Saturday 8th August - Sunday 30th August 2026

Wilde Volk is a celebration of the more esoteric, the rural, animalistic and masked traditions of Northern and Eastern Europe, explored through photography, film, sculpture and sound.

Over the last decade, Sooxanne Rolfe and friends have travelled across Europe documenting esoteric masked folk rituals. Through personal photography, the Wilde Volk exhibition offers an intimate insight into these folk traditions, places where folklore, disguise, celebration of the seasons, rites of passage and transformation collide.

Wilde Volk invites visitors to consider how these modern-day horned and animalistic traditions continue to resonate today, not as relics of the past, but as living, evolving expressions of identity, place and collective imagination.

This exhibition features artistic responses from a group of international and UK-based artists working across sound, sculpture, glass, textiles and automata. Including photographic work by Kerry Boettcher and Ivo Danchev, immersive soundscapes by experimental electronic music collective Spirit of Gravity, Krampus-inspired stained glass by Jeff Kazmir and Penny Toomy, willow sculpture by Woody Fox, and ritual masks by Simon Chandler. Also featured are felt paintings by Lou Hart, bear masks by Jo Goddard and Beth Neam, and a Kukeri automaton doll by Helen D’Arcy.

Whitby Krampus Run a Yorkshire based collective will be showcasing their own Krampus-inspired masks, carved and constructed using techniques learned in Austria. They will also be performing live in the gallery too.

Throughout the exhibition there will be mask-making workshops, talks and Wilde Volk drawing sessions curated by James Burt. Dates to be released soon.