L-R: Rag Porth install for Hospital Rooms at Longreach House; reading of Catching Copper at National Trust East Pool Mine photo credit K Buckler.
Sovay is attentive to supple and subtle boundaries, edges and moments of change. Throughout their work as an artist, facilitator, coach, and in the plumbing and heating industry Sovay connects personal experience - being Cornish, neurodivergent, trauma-impacted, from a queer, non-conforming, low socio-economic background - to broader issues of care, labour, environmental and social justice, equitability and a sense of place.
Sovay is committed to questioning balances of power and uses art as a structure and prompt for action and discussion. Excited by the possibility of the collective and the potential of the moment, Sovay’s work will often manifest as multiple elements which may be experienced through installation, text/audio, moving image, drawing, sculpture, event or conversation; always pieces working together to create a whole, supportive structure, and shared story.
Sovay is fascinated by the manifestation and potential of change - through gradual and dynamic means. The natural environment, its domestic and industrial evolution, tourist sites, performance platforms and dance floors, inform the abstract and semi-fantastical sculptural structures and situations Sovay builds.
BIO - Sovay was the Clore Leadership Visual Arts Fellow for the nineteenth cohort in 2023/24 supported by a-n the artists information company. Sovay has exhibited & worked with organisations & galleries such as The National Trust, Counterpoints Arts, Creative Kernow, ArtNight, Hospital Rooms, Visual Art South West, Tate, Spike Island, MIRROR, National Theatre Scotland, Pi-ArtWorks - London/Istanbul, & Robin Gibson - Sydney. Sovay is a trustee of Creative Kernow, and Advisory Committee member of Creative Kernow Associates.
TEXTS & INTERVIEWS - relating to my work and projects
2024 'How was it for You?, Sovay Berriman for a-n The Artists’ Information Company
ReWilding Arts Leadership, Sovay Berriman a provocation for Clore Fellowship 23/24 Thinking & Practise on the 10 year Anniversary of the Recognition of the Cornish as a National Minority , by Sovay Berriman
Sovay Berriman on Cornwall, Cornish identity, Eek! and Meskla, by Rupert White for Art Cornwall
Days out in a Renault Twingo, by Joanne Tatham
Everyday Constellations, an essay by Mary Paterson, for Synethsia, a Cultivator Cornwall and University of Plymouth project.
That’s Entertainment, by Sacha Waldron for The Skinny, review of Entertainment Suite in Oculist Witnesses, The Harris, Preston
Oculist Witnesses review by Sam Pickett for Corridor 8
Vanishing Point by Laura McLean Ferris for Oculist Witnesses
Drawing as Research, with Tate Learning
An Artist-Led Adventure, an article by Stephen Palmer for a-n, about Molluscs Hunt Wizards
Mildly Radical, Liz Rowe for Dense Cluster at Bristol Diving School.
AUDIO - talks and in-conversations
MIAAW Podcast - talking about Kernowek and ReWilding Arts Leadership
Dreadnought South West, a conversation between Sovay Berriman and Josie Sutcliffe at Kresen Kernow, June 2023. This recording does not include the open discussion that followed Sovay & Josie’s conversation.
The Lock-in with Natalie Rigby - Sovay & Natalie talk about growing up in Cornwall, othering, neurodivergence, air-guitaring mums and inspirational nieces.
Artonomics: Supporting a Multifaceted Practice - Sovay Berriman & Lucy Harrison interviewed by Cathy Lomax for the Out of Space podcast
Sovay is committed to questioning balances of power and uses art as a structure and prompt for action and discussion. Excited by the possibility of the collective and the potential of the moment, Sovay’s work will often manifest as multiple elements which may be experienced through installation, text/audio, moving image, drawing, sculpture, event or conversation; always pieces working together to create a whole, supportive structure, and shared story.
Sovay is fascinated by the manifestation and potential of change - through gradual and dynamic means. The natural environment, its domestic and industrial evolution, tourist sites, performance platforms and dance floors, inform the abstract and semi-fantastical sculptural structures and situations Sovay builds.
BIO - Sovay was the Clore Leadership Visual Arts Fellow for the nineteenth cohort in 2023/24 supported by a-n the artists information company. Sovay has exhibited & worked with organisations & galleries such as The National Trust, Counterpoints Arts, Creative Kernow, ArtNight, Hospital Rooms, Visual Art South West, Tate, Spike Island, MIRROR, National Theatre Scotland, Pi-ArtWorks - London/Istanbul, & Robin Gibson - Sydney. Sovay is a trustee of Creative Kernow, and Advisory Committee member of Creative Kernow Associates.
TEXTS & INTERVIEWS - relating to my work and projects
2024 'How was it for You?, Sovay Berriman for a-n The Artists’ Information Company
ReWilding Arts Leadership, Sovay Berriman a provocation for Clore Fellowship 23/24 Thinking & Practise on the 10 year Anniversary of the Recognition of the Cornish as a National Minority , by Sovay Berriman
Sovay Berriman on Cornwall, Cornish identity, Eek! and Meskla, by Rupert White for Art Cornwall
Days out in a Renault Twingo, by Joanne Tatham
Everyday Constellations, an essay by Mary Paterson, for Synethsia, a Cultivator Cornwall and University of Plymouth project.
That’s Entertainment, by Sacha Waldron for The Skinny, review of Entertainment Suite in Oculist Witnesses, The Harris, Preston
Oculist Witnesses review by Sam Pickett for Corridor 8
Vanishing Point by Laura McLean Ferris for Oculist Witnesses
Drawing as Research, with Tate Learning
An Artist-Led Adventure, an article by Stephen Palmer for a-n, about Molluscs Hunt Wizards
Mildly Radical, Liz Rowe for Dense Cluster at Bristol Diving School.
AUDIO - talks and in-conversations
MIAAW Podcast - talking about Kernowek and ReWilding Arts Leadership
Dreadnought South West, a conversation between Sovay Berriman and Josie Sutcliffe at Kresen Kernow, June 2023. This recording does not include the open discussion that followed Sovay & Josie’s conversation.
The Lock-in with Natalie Rigby - Sovay & Natalie talk about growing up in Cornwall, othering, neurodivergence, air-guitaring mums and inspirational nieces.
Artonomics: Supporting a Multifaceted Practice - Sovay Berriman & Lucy Harrison interviewed by Cathy Lomax for the Out of Space podcast
L-R: Recording a MESKLA podcast, photo credit Joe Blackman; Visiting lecturer presentation for Falmouth University, talking through a collaborative project with Dr Shelley Trower;
All work copyright the artist