Sarah Maloney’s Pleasure Ground: A Feminist Take on the Natural World, a touring career retrospective, was shown at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery from April to October 2025. Laura Ritchie and Jennifer Matotek thoughtfully curated the exhibition, which sprawls across two large galleries.

Although the exhibition spans 30 years of artistic practice, I was struck by the visual cohesiveness. The works were not arranged chronologically, yet, pieces from the earliest years of Maloney’s practice fit seamlessly with the most recent embroideries and sculptures. This speaks to the consistency and strength of the artist’s oeuvre. Maloney’s meticulous handwork is evident in all that she makes, from embroidered organs to delicately knit vertebrae and cast bronze orchids. Here were the images and themes she has explored and returned to many times: the female body (including her own), conflations of anatomy and botany, and references to gender, labour and land.

The installation at the Beaverbrook provided generous space between the pieces, allowing the viewer to properly experience – visually and physically – the sculptural works. The positioning of the sculpture Water Level (2012-2016), for example, allowed us to move in and around a plethora of life-size water lilies. Cast bronze flowers and leaves “float” at eye level, offering a new experience of this aquatic species. In nature, the water lily’s roots dangle and twirl invisibly beneath the pond’s surface, but in Maloney’s sculpture we can admire their playfully twisting forms. 

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