FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Four very different Brighton-based artists will come together this September for The Presence of Absence, a two-week interactive exhibition exploring memory, loss, healing and the spaces people leave behind.
Taking place at The Regency Townhouse in Brighton & Hove from Thursday 24 September to Sunday 4 October 2026, the exhibition brings together upholsterer Emily Beaumont, contemporary surrealist Frances Bloomfield, painter Jo Hathaway and photographer Nick Bowman.
At the heart of the exhibition is a deceptively simple idea: that absence can have a presence of its own.
The project began with an empty chair — an everyday object capable of carrying the memory of somebody who once occupied it, and the comfort, pain or emotion that absence can represent.
Central to the exhibition will be four vintage chairs, created as a collaboration between Beaumont and Bloomfield. Each will explore different themes including memory, healing, secrets and retreat, inviting visitors to consider how ordinary objects can retain the emotional traces of the people connected to them.
“Influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre’s study on Being and Nothingness, we wanted to explore the concept that absence is a very real and substantial being,” says Frances Bloomfield.
Four artists, four perspectives
While the chairs provide a central narrative, each artist approaches the theme from a distinctly different direction.
Painter Jo Hathaway uses colour, light, memory and reflection to explore the internal and often abstract experience of absence. Photographer Nick Bowman presents images that tell individual stories through light, nature, revelation and obscurity.
Additional works from Frances Bloomfield and Emily Beaumont develop the conversation further, creating an exhibition that moves between the physical, emotional and psychological.
Rather than simply asking visitors to observe, The Presence of Absence invites them to participate.
Secrets will be concealed around the exhibition space for visitors to discover, while members of the public will also be encouraged to leave behind their own memories and experiences. These contributions will gradually become part of the exhibition itself.
The result will be an evolving visual conversation about how people interpret the past, present and future through what remains — and through what is no longer there.
Happiness, sadness, joy, grief, beauty, loss and hope all form part of that conversation.
“What we are trying to do is to explore how everyday objects can directly impact on our lives and help us to navigate our future and consider the huge gaps that we all leave behind, no matter who or where we are,” says Emily Beaumont.
A building filled with memories
The choice of The Regency Townhouse is an important part of the exhibition.
A rare surviving example of an original historic townhouse, the venue provides a domestic setting in which chairs, objects, photographs and paintings can take on an added sense of intimacy.
The building itself becomes part of the theme: a space that has contained generations of lives, conversations, departures and arrivals.
Its rooms inevitably hold traces of the people who once lived, worked, sat and passed through them — making the Townhouse a natural setting for an exhibition about presence, memory and the physical spaces left behind.
As Jacqueline Simon Gunn wrote:
“Your absence is a presence. Who knew an empty space could take up so much room.”
And, in the words of artist Doris Salcedo:
“A chair replaces the presence of someone by holding their absence.”
Events throughout the exhibition
A programme of accompanying events will take place during the exhibition, including:
- Private View – Thursday 24 September, 5pm–8pm
- Wine Tasting from Bask – Thursday 1 October, 6pm–8pm
- Film Screening – Friday 2 October, 6pm–9pm
Jo Hathaway will also create a “Book of Words”, bringing together writings that explore the exhibition’s central themes.
Nick Bowman will present a photographic installation entitled “We Are Not a Number” as part of the show.
The artists
Emily Beaumont – Upholsterer
emilybooupholstery.co.uk
Frances Bloomfield – Contemporary Surrealist
francesbloomfield.com
Jo Hathaway – Painter
johathaway.com
Nick Bowman – Photographer
Instagram: @iamnotabene
More information about the artists is available at:
johathaway.com/about-the-artists
Exhibition details
THE PRESENCE OF ABSENCE
Thursday 24 September – Sunday 4 October 2026
The Regency Townhouse, Brighton & Hove
Venue information: rth.org.uk
