Your Meaning Not Your Materiality (YMNYM)

Full tour and exhibition dates here.

A new, multi-faceted project spanning 2024-2027. Your Meaning Not Your Materiality (YMNYM) questions what is left when a physical and material form has died, dissolved or been removed. The human-scale sculptural forms will consider the presence of objects, their ghosts and the notion of an invisible double. As a visual artist and choreographer Peake often combines ‘Art’ making with technical processes as both subject, metaphor and source for making.

In Your Meaning Not Your Materiality Peake wants to engage in the history of western sculpture making and casting methods/techniques, then use this enquiry to explore broader themes around loss. After death, absence becomes a starkly strong encounter. By casting a permanent physical form of something intangible, Peake is attempting to make solid something that isn’t there. In this regard, the work addresses the futility of the strong human desire to grasp and hold materiality (or memory) in the face of slip and inevitable erosion, change and re-configuration. The backdrop to this work extends from personal grief to worldwide extremes of conflict and climate change which perpetuate relentless loss.

The project spans:

Interactive outdoor sculpture:

  • Hospitalfield, Scotland 

  • TheCOLAB Artist Garden, London - with community engagement.

  • Kunsthal Rønnebæksholm & Billedskolen Storstrøm 


Solo Exhibition:

  • HOME, Manchester- community co-creation

  • Richard Saltoun 

  • Kunsthal Rønnebæksholm & Billedskolen Storstrøm - community focused

Performances:

  • The Colab conference at Kings College London (June 2025)

  • Leeds Art Gallery with Northern School of Contemporary Dance (November 2024)

  • Live casting and sculpture making at theCOLAB

  • Collaborative performance with Yahon Chang at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris 

  • Performance with Scottish Dance Theatre, Hospitalfield 

  • Performance interventions for HOME

With residencies and support from:

  • Hospitalfield, Scotland  

  • Launch Pad, France - link to artist interview about the process and YMNYM project 

  • Edinburgh Sculpture workshop

  • Independent Dance - community focus

Key dates: 

  • 25th April 2026 - Exhibition opening at Hospitalfield, Arbroath 

  • 16th May 2026 - Live sculpture casting at theCOLAB Artist’s Garden, London 

  • 7th July 2026 - Performance at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris

  • 16th August 2026 - Performance with Scottish Dance Theatre at Hospitalfield, Arbroath

  • 9th October 2026 - Exhibition opening at HOME, Manchester 

  • More dates TBC  

Team Credits:

Lead Artist: Florence Peake 

Executive Producer: Caroline Smith 

Tour and Live Producer: Eve Veglio-Hüner 

Production and Studio Manager: Jim Tuck

Production assistant: Mathilda Laird 

Pastoral support: Scarlet Ma and Valerie Gage 

Dramaturgical support: Eve Stainton 

Performers (London): Joe Moran, Donovan Morris, Catherine Hoffman, Rodrigo Peñalosa, Sophie Khan, Rachel Lopez de la Nieta  

Performers (Manchester): Eve Stainton, Katye Coe, Charlie Morrissey, Ka Hei, Tilliana Greenwood, Amy Vorris, Eleanor Sikorski 

Performers (Scotland): Scottish Dance Theatre company members and apprentices 

Performers for sculptural moulds: Rachel Lopez de la Nieta, Wren Long, Valerie Gage 

Access consultant: Shivaangee Agrawal 

Fabricator: Assish Aubeeluck at Velouvre London

Environmental Consultancy: Jennifer Taillefer

Funded by Arts Council England, alongside commissions from HOME Manchester, Hospitalfield, theCOLAB, Kunsthal Rønnebæksholm & Billedskolen Storstrøm

Leeds credits: images taken by Elly Welford. Performers: Tilliana Greenwood, Aoife Henderson, Ástrós Gabríela, Freya Humphery, Hannah Maie, Katy Marshall, Kai Hei Ya. Produced by Fernanda Prata. Production manager: Jim Tuck. With Leeds Art Gallery Thanks to Jane Bhoyroo.

theCOLAB credits: Images taken by Henri T

Bronze hand image: Sam Tingman