A moving response to Feelings are real exhibition at Barbican Library

“I’ve never felt so identified with and understood by artwork before.”

“Emotional, intriguing, familiar and new, provoking and engaging, menacing and mischievous”

“One of the most moving and inspiring art experiences I’ve had in a long time.”

Feelings are real is an exhibition by self-taught artists  stevexoh and jdwoof (aka Art Babies) that celebrates mark making as an important therapeutic practice.

The exhibition is a collection of drawings, paintings, paper cuttings, etchings and objects that Steve and Jo have made over the last three years to help them make sense of their feelings.

The various artworks exhibited were made in response to personal moments of sadness, anxiety, confusion, wonder, love, fear, loss, longing, hope and are presented as a collection for the first time with the intention that people will find them interesting, supportive and see something of themselves in the exhibits.

Feedback from visitors over the first few days of the exhibition has been powerful, moving and inspiring:

“Such a kind, cute, funny, connective, healing and relatable exhibition.”

“Honest and sweet, with an epic playlist.”

“All my life I’ve felt like an imposter in art galleries but this work broke through all that.”

“A connective, inspiring, funny, moving and relatable exhibition.”

“This exhibition is a compassionate conversation between the artists.”

“There’s a strange gentleness to it all.”

The exhibition runs until the 27^th February 2025 at Barbican Library in Central London. More information is available at www.artbabies.co.uk

You can watch an interview where Steve and Jo talk about the exhibition and the importance of therapeutic mark making HERE.