Slaying the Hydra
Nicola Turner
‘her work reminds us of our entanglement with our surroundings and the wider interconnected energies of which we are a part.’ - Annely Juda Fine Art
‘Moving the mind beyond rational thought (....) [encouraging] viewers to question themselves, more like a felt experience, I guess, responding to the material and to objects.’ - NT in Tentacular Thinking
Large, dark tentacular forms coil their way through the Studio in this site-responsive installation which British artist Nicola Turner created for Grind Grind Grind, Release. An Exhibition as a Massage. Netted tubular forms, filled with horsehair and sheep wool, are twisted and turned into larger compositions that are both recognisable and completely alien. Working with organic “dead materials”, Turner explores the history and memory of these very materials, and the interconnectedness between being and matter. The tentacle-like shapes are a recurring element in her practice, yet none ever appear the same: each one metamorphoses through its encounter with the surrounding elements.
Within An Exhibition as a Massage, Turner’s work embodies the entanglement between bodies, material and space. It invites us to be moved by it and with it. One might feel curiosity, attraction or the urge to touch, while simultaneously experiencing unease or withdrawal. The smell of lanolin, the texture of hair and the ambiguous shapes intensify this bodily encounter. Each response is shaped by one’s own lived experiences.
2026 – Site-responsive installation, mixed media including horsehair, wool
Courtesy of the artist and Annely Juda Fine Art.
With thanks to Southern & Partners
Commissioned by STUK, House for Dance, Image & Sound in the context of Grind Grind Grind, Release. An Exhibition as a Massage.
Nicola Turner
°1967, Guildford, UK
Nicola Turner is an artist known for creating large scale, visceral installations from wool and waste horsehair, often made in response to their surroundings. Using “dead” materials such as waste horsehair and wool alongside found objects, her works touch upon the history and “memory” of materials. She explores how these materials give off energy forces, including how “dead” matter can provoke a visceral aversion and attraction. Her work resonates with the notion of abjection, the capacity of the world to disorient and connect to primal instinct and, consequently, within the abject there is an acute awareness of melancholy and death.
In 2024 she gained attention for her site responsive installation The Meddling Fiend which interacted with the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds in the Courtyard of the Royal Academy, London, for the duration of the Summer Exhibition. With a background in set and costume design, Turner has worked with The Royal Opera House, San Francisco Opera, Scottish Ballet, Royal Shakespeare Company and Sydney Opera House where she was the recipient of a Green Room Award. She graduated from Central St Martins School of Art & Design and Bath Spa University. She was awarded the RWA Academy Award for her sculpture Klipp und Klapp.
Turner has exhibited at Art Basel Unlimited 2025, Basel; Carvalho Gallery, New York; The Bomb Factory, London; The Royal Academy, London; Od Arts Festival, Somerset, DOOR, Amsterdam; and Skaftfell Arts Centre, Iceland. She founded Form-ica, an independent collective of artists. Turner lives and works in Bath, UK, and is represented by Annely Juda Fine Art.
Photo: Nicola Turner © Roland Chambers