grounded

ARTIST: Courtney Spencer
CURATOR: Court Spencer
DATE: Mar - May 2026
VENUE: Eye Room, Leeds

grounded brings together a new body of work by Courtney Spencer, made in response to an eight week research journey revisiting five places from her childhood. Travelling across Western Australia, the works draw on sites including the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Bibra Lake, Forrest, Meekatharra and Esperance. Rather than depicting landscape, they present it, allowing the material itself to carry the presence of place.

Pigments are rubbed directly onto paper, forming quiet, tactile surfaces that hold the colour and texture of the environments they come from. Ochre from Wilgie Mia, sand from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and dirt gathered from each location register as distinct yet subtle traces. These works operate as condensed landscapes, vast distances reduced to intimate forms that can be held, framed and viewed up close.

Alongside these works on paper, sculptural assemblages incorporate found materials, including coral and synthetic rope, bringing together natural and manmade elements. These pieces extend the reflection on the movement of materials across places and the boundaries between the organic and the constructed.

Presented by The Art Court in collaboration with Eye Room, grounded continues a shared interest in attention, material and perception. The exhibition offers a considered space to engage with the physical reality of landscape, inviting a slower, more attentive way of seeing.