EXHIBITIONS
EXHIBITIONS
Toner presents Encounter: A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION ON OUR TOPOGRAPHIC PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Encounter brings together a group of contemporary photographers working in the UK, whose practices engage with the landscape as both a geological record and a living, contested terrain. Through images of rock formations, eroded coastlines, quarries, riverbeds, and shifting hillsides, the works consider land as an archive of deep time, one that vastly exceeds the scale of human history.
Looking to the past as a means of understanding the present, the exhibition reflects on the legacy of the New Topographics movement and its continued relevance today. The photographers draw upon this historical mode of seeing, characterised by clarity, restraint, and an unsentimental gaze, while reworking it in response to contemporary conditions. In this sense, the work operates between old and new Topographics: acknowledging earlier photographic approaches to the altered landscape, while extending them to address current ecological, social, and temporal concerns.
The exhibition opens at TONER on the 1st of May 6-9pm and is open to all.
A workshop with photographers from the exhibition will take place on Saturday 2nd and all information TBA.
Curated by Matt Martin (Toner) and Ben Osborne
Artists featured in the exhibition includeJake Husband, Rebeka Wolfe, Chris Ellis, Mohamed Hassan, Natasha Edgington, Iain Sarjeant, Ian Potter, James John Midwinter, Frances Scott, Ben Osborne, Rachel Poulton,and Matt Martin.
PAST EXHIBITIONS
PAST EXHIBITIONS
PERIPHERAL VISION Exhibition at TONER Gallery, Penzance | 10–25 April 2026
OPENING NIGHT 5-8PM 10.4.26
WORKSHOP INFORMATION
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When we look at photographs, attention usually settles on what is visible in the frame. Peripheral Vision asks a more practical question: what relationships had to exist for these images to come into being?
The four photographers in this exhibition work through duration. Their images are made through repeated return: to places, to people, to gestures, to situations that only reveal themselves through sustained presence. What is visible here carries the weight of time spent in contact — negotiation, care, friction, and commitment.
Maria Meco’s photographs grow out of her impression of and sensitivity towards cultivated gardens shaped by human and non-human collaboration, attending to their cycles and dependencies.
Gabrielė Žukauskaitė photographs from within lived processes of migration and (re)settlement. Her work dwells on thresholds—between arrival and familiarity, presence and distance—tracing how places gradually reorganise perception when you stay long enough to become shaped by them.
Polly Hardwicke's images emerge from extended relational closeness. They are formed through consent, exposure, and mutual endurance, allowing bodies to appear without performance or display.
Viviana Almas returns to gestures, symbols, and materials until images accumulate ceremonial weight. What appears staged is enacted; what feels symbolic has been lived.
Across the exhibition, photography functions less as capture and more as consequence. These works are shaped by how attention is sustained, how proximity is negotiated, and how observing becomes a practice embedded in lived experience and its material traces.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
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Maria Meco is a Spanish photographer based in London whose work explores intimacy between strangers and the delicate chemistry of shared vulnerability. Her practice moves between fiction and reality—fiction as her chosen way of portraying the world, reality as the emotions that existed before she pressed the shutter. Her work has appeared in Portrait of Britain, Creative Review, Aesthetica Magazine, and True Photo Journal. Maria is also a keen gardener who cultivates spaces where multiple species entangle—her photographic practice emerges from this relational attention.
Polly Hardwicke is an English artist raised in London and currently studying BA Photography at the University of West England in Bristol. Her practice primarily draws on traditional studio techniques, incorporating portraiture and still life while also drawing parallels between local landscapes and the body.
Viviana Almas is a Lithuanian-American artist based in England working with film photography, motion picture, and printmaking. Her commitment to analog processes—particularly photo etching—reflects a practice built on repetition and material intimacy. Her work has been exhibited at KKKC (Lithuania), JB Blunk Estate (San Francisco), and Truman Brewery (London).
Gabrielė Žukauskaitė is a Lithuanian photographer and anthropologist based in Vilnius. She works with film, photographing people, bodies, night walks, and coastal landscapes—close encounters with the textures of everyday environments. Her background in medical anthropology shapes how she attends to embodiment and change. She coordinates projects with KONTEKST, an independent collective of artists, anthropologists, and filmmakers. Publications include Unpsychology Magazine, Mahala Magazine, and Vehicular Glare.
We are super excited to announce our October exhibition AN DARAS by Lowenna Rose Kliskey @lowennaktattoo -
Rosie’s new body of work recently published by @ancientmagic.books is now exhibiting at TONER throughout October -
Inspired by the ancient landscape of West Penwith in Cornwall, Rosie takes a fine tuned look at the sites riddled with tales of witchcraft and folklore. Standing stones, Holy Wells and natural geology are Rosie’s main focus coupled with the traces that people have left behind at these sites.
The book includes a number of Rosie’s drawings, and a holographic sticker inspired by the folklore of West Penwith. You can grab a copy of the book instore or
STONED BY REUBEN HOLMES
OPENING 29.8.25 AND RUNNING TILL THE 13.9.25
Stoned is an exhibition, and zine, blurring the lines between frottaging, photography and fun.
Echoing the strong granite landscape that surrounds us all, herein penwith. This is Reuben’s version of field notes from the explorations he’s been on both in mind and on paper.
Stemming from building hedges, the stones used are bigger and betterer than before.
Come and join us on opening night to collaborate, share the obsession and most importantly enjoy this body of work.
MORVOREN BY LUCY BENTLEY,
EXHIBITION OPENING 31ST OF JULY 6-9PM,
RUNNING 31ST - 9TH AUGUST
Morvoren (‘Mermaid’ in Cornish), draws on childhood interest in local folklore to explore the psychological landscape of growing up in Cornwall, revealing the hidden femininity of the Celtic county. Intimate memories of the land and its ancient lore evoke a sense of native estrangement, plunging the viewer into an alien world. The guiding figure of the Morvoren alludes to the cautionary origin of Cornish mermaid tales now applied to the age of anxiety concerning the natural world, as well as the social issues deep-rooted within the county.
TIN PEST BY BECKY TYRRELL
EXHIBITION OPENING 17TH OF JULY 6-9PM
RUNNING 17th - 27th JULY
TIN PEST is a new body of work from award-winning photographer Becky Tyrrell.
A playful deviation from her BJP-winning portrait photography, Becky explores what it means to be a resident in Cornwall with all it produces and stands for.
from ancient history and neolithic stone structures, it’s contribution to the Bronze Age through tin and mining, to more modern affiliations and afflictions including holiday lets, second homes, and Instagrammable tourism.
A new way of working with her hands and using narrative saw Becky create a series of temporary living sculptures which were photographed then destroyed.
Each sculpture brings together carefully selected combinations of gifted and found objects, including stone and tin from Geevor Tin Mine, vegetables, flowers and fruit given to Becky from friends and family, and references to sellable Cornish relics and lifestyle choices, which she describes as “the performative fetishisation of rural life.”
“There are times when firewood feels so much more valuable than money. As a seasoned holiday cottage cleaner, I ponder the different ways to see a lockbox—as long as you’ve got the code, two very different experiences await you.”
Threaded through the work is Becky’s own personal story and history, as well as a deep connection to nature and her environment. She describes moving through the dark retreat of winter to observing nature’s “look at me, pick me!” abundance in the summer months. Becky brings together her obsessions with a curiosity for anecdote, freedom, and all the idiosyncrasies of living along the west Penwith peninsula.
BEARINGS is a visual exploration of the fostered community created through local skate culture, uniting generations and backgrounds in one celebration of passion, skill and sport.
Skating goes beyond the board, acting as youth clubs, communities, and places of connection and belonging unrestricted by age or ability. This exhibition is a collection of photographs showcasing the feeling of place created by the local Cornish skate scene. With photography by skaters spanning generations, from local teens documenting friends with make-do-cameras to published professionals, this body of work is a collective expression of their relationship to Cornwall’s skate scene.
Through these images, BEARINGS invites viewers to step into the scene these skaters inhabit, exploring how skate culture can foster resilience, inspire creativity, and anchor identity.
FEATURING:
Zac Henshall, Rich Adams, Leo Sharp, Danny Parker, Jayden Dunkley, George Cooke, Ezra Boulton, Anthony Allen, Jack Sedgwick, ROSIE KLISKEY AND MORE TBA
EXHIBITION: Convergence - opening 18th of june 5-8pm, on display 18th to the 22nd of june.
A collection of photography by recent Falmouth graduates, exploring the human form and the spaces we inhabit - constructed and natural, literal and figurative.
Through a diverse range of practices, the artists look at themes of; disconnection with nature, family intimacy, religious influence, masculinity, the preservation of slowness, brutalism and the naked Body.
Photographers:
Friedericke Allen - @friedericke_annaclara
Lottie Robinson -@lottierobinsonphoto
Izzy Grooms - @izzygroomsphoto
Emma Mole - @emmamole_
Ellen Magee - @ellen_magee_photography
Daisy Pooke - @daisypookephoto
Josh Large - @joshlarge_
BASALT BY JAMES MEREDEW -
AN EXHIBITION AND BOOK LAUNCH OPENING 6TH OF JUNE 6-9PM
WIND SCREEN: A Visual Study from a Motor Vehicle
OPENS 10.4.25 - PENZANCE - CLOSING 3RD OF MAY
Curated by Matt Martin, TONER.
"WIND SCREEN: A Visual Study from a Motor Vehicle" invites viewers to explore the intimate, often fleeting, and elusive landscapes captured through the lens of photographers looking out from the confines of a moving car.
This group exhibition assembles a diverse body of work that stretches the boundaries of travel, motion, and perception, bringing together photographs taken from the unique vantage point of a motor vehicle — where the view is constantly shifting, fragmentary, and fragmented by the speed of movement and the frame of the window.
The act of photographing from a car is not new. In fact, it finds its roots in the mid-20th century when photographers such as Robert Frank and William Eggleston began to explore the theme of American highways and the culture of travel through their car windows. Frank's iconic The Americans and Eggleston's early colour photographs captured both the mundane and the poetic within the context of a moving, shifting world. These early works established the car as a mobile studio, a lens through which the rapidly changing world could be observed, both distant and intimate. The transient nature of the car window as a frame allowed for an exploration of the fleeting moments that otherwise might escape our attention -fragmented scenes of life as it happens, whether on highways, side streets, or city backdrops.
In "WIND SCREEN," contemporary photographers continue to explore this tradition but with fresh perspectives. The exhibition features work from Archie Robinson, Ben Weller, Becky Tyrrell, Bryan Schutmaat, Bryony Good, Charlie Jay, Chris Mann, Ed Templeton, Ingrid Pop, James John Midwinter, James Meredew, Jackson Whitefield, Jack Johns, Jon Denham, Jamie Hawkesworth, Laura McCluskey, Max Searl, Matt Martin, Nick Pumphrey, Rosie Kliskey, Valerie Phillips, and Vanessa Winship. Each photographer brings their personal vision and narrative, resulting in a rich and varied collection that highlights the intersections of technology, mobility, and the human experience.
In the context of Cornwall, the act of photographing from a vehicle takes on a distinct resonance. The rural roads, winding coastal paths, and dramatic landscapes of Cornwall are themselves a kind of photographic journey-one that mirrors the essence of the traditional photographic road trip. Yet, unlike the expansive highways of the American West or the wide-open roads of Europe, Cornwall's narrow lanes, picturesque villages, and ever-changing weather patterns offer a more intimate, often more challenging, encounter with the landscape. In this sense, the road trip in Cornwall becomes not just a physical journey, but an emotional one. The experience of driving through this unique region-sometimes isolated, sometimes surrounded by the sea-resonates with the work of the photographers in this exhibition, who similarly navigate between moments of connection and solitude, speed and stillness, presence and absence.
From the blurred lines of passing streets to the stark, distant horizons seen through rain-speckled windows, these images evoke the simultaneity of speed, isolation, and connection. There is a tension in photographing from a car, where the photographer is both a passive observer and an active participant, constantly aware of the world slipping away behind them as they race forward. This sense of movement, of what is missed as much as what is captured, is a central theme in much of the work presented here.
As you move through the exhibition, you will witness the delicate balance between intention and spontaneity. From the uncanny calm of Ingrid Pop's wide-angle vistas to the raw, unsparing observations in the work of Ed Templeton, the exhibition highlights the diversity of approaches to this shared theme. The images reflect an ever-changing world-one that is constantly evolving, filled with movement, light, and fleeting moments that only a motor vehicle can frame.
"WIND SCREEN: A Visual Study from a Motor Vehicle Opens on the 10th of April at TONER, 61-62 Chapel Street and will be on display from the 11th to the 20th of April. Please email info@tonerpz.com for any other information.
