Tyreis Holder – Tek Time
Presented by International Curators Forum in collaboration with Ruby Cruel
25 September – 1 November 2026
Thursday – Saturday, 1-6pm
Or by appointment by emailing info@internationalcuratorsforum.org
Opening event: Thursday 24 September, 6-9pm
Location: Ruby Cruel, 250 Morning Lane, London E9 6RQ
From Artist Tyreis Holder, Tek Time is an offering of tenderness.
Embodying a practice, not just an idea, the title of this solo installation references the saying ‘tek time’, to take time. The artist is providing a prompt or an invitation to deal with things before they deal with you.
The project has developed out of a consideration of what it means to slow down in a world that asks us to keep moving. It is an invitation to pause, rest and spend time with yourself and in community.
As we move into the winter months, when our bodies often need a little more care and enter into a state of hibernation, Tek Time provides a space for softness…solace…stillness. Somewhere to read, recover, recharge, listen, create, think or do nothing at all.
Alongside these elements, a small space for skating offers another way of moving through the exhibition, inviting moments of play and liberation.
The work presented is shaped by Holder’s experiences of finding care through community, subculture, ritual and making. It draws on Black Caribbean British histories and everyday practices that have taught the artist that healing can happen through conversation, music, food, touch and simply being together.
The installation brings together textiles, sound, scent and participation. As people spend time in the gallery at Ruby Cruel, it slowly changes. Archives of ourselves remain as the exhibition becomes shaped by the people who enter and engage with it.
So Tek time. Be easy on yuhself. Breathe.
PUBLIC PROGRAMME
Tek Root – Planting Memorial Workshop
Thursday 15 October, 6-8pm
Ruby Cruel
Free to attend, booking required
A participatory workshop inviting you to plant a memorial plant and make a textile pot cover in memory of a parent who has passed over. Led by Tyreis Holder.
Book Now
Peer-Led Studio Session with Tyreis Holder
Wednesday 21 October, 6:30-8:30pm
Ruby Cruel
Free to attend, booking required
A group gathering and conversation, during which Tyreis will share insight into her practice and the cultural influences and creative considerations that shaped this new installation. This event forms part of ICF’s Professional Development programme and is for early career and emerging creative and cultural practitioners specifically.
Book Now
Wear Your Roots – Crochet Jewellery Making Workshop
Tuesday 27 October, 6-8pm
Ruby Cruel
Free to attend, booking required
An informal gathering to sit, chat and share stories while making a piece of crochet jewellery inspired by St. Vincent, identity and home. Led by Tyreis Holder.
Book Now
ABOUT TYREIS HOLDER
Tyreis Holder is an interdisciplinary, socially engaged textile artist, poet, visual storyteller and community arts educator from South London, with heritage reigning from Jamaican/St Vincent.
Working across textiles, installation, performance, poetry, sculpture and sound, her practice centres creative process as a form of care and healing. Through textiles, poetry and participatory practice, she creates spaces where care, cultural memory and collective healing can be embodied. She explores selfhood, diasporic identity politics, Black Caribbean British identity, queerness, ancestral and generational healing, health politics, heritage, herbalism, archival storytelling and the creation of living archives that resist the erasure of Black Caribbean histories while navigating colonial spaces.
ABOUT ICF & RUBY CRUEL
International Curators Forum (ICF) is a catalyst and leader for cultural transformation in the visual arts, advocating for and fostering an equitable, inclusive and accessible ecology that sustains and is sustained by the value of diversity.
Through high-quality professional development initiatives (including fellowships, mentorship, and residencies), as well as critically engaged public programmes and discursive outputs (including exhibitions, commissions, events, workshops, digital projects and publications), ICF is transforming towards a better world for creative and cultural practitioners by resourcing them with the support, spaces and leadership they need.
Ruby Cruel is a non-profit creative space in Hackney, London which accommodates a flexible mix of activity including exhibitions, talks and residencies.
Tek Time is commissioned by ICF and made possible with support from Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund held at The London Community Foundation and Arts Council England.
People:
Tyreis Holder – Tek Time
Presented by International Curators Forum in collaboration with Ruby Cruel
25 September – 1 November 2026
Thursday – Saturday, 1-6pm
Or by appointment by emailing info@internationalcuratorsforum.org
Opening event: Thursday 24 September, 6-9pm
Location: Ruby Cruel, 250 Morning Lane, London E9 6RQ
From Artist Tyreis Holder, Tek Time is an offering of tenderness.
Embodying a practice, not just an idea, the title of this solo installation references the saying ‘tek time’, to take time. The artist is providing a prompt or an invitation to deal with things before they deal with you.
The project has developed out of a consideration of what it means to slow down in a world that asks us to keep moving. It is an invitation to pause, rest and spend time with yourself and in community.
As we move into the winter months, when our bodies often need a little more care and enter into a state of hibernation, Tek Time provides a space for softness…solace…stillness. Somewhere to read, recover, recharge, listen, create, think or do nothing at all.
Alongside these elements, a small space for skating offers another way of moving through the exhibition, inviting moments of play and liberation.
The work presented is shaped by Holder’s experiences of finding care through community, subculture, ritual and making. It draws on Black Caribbean British histories and everyday practices that have taught the artist that healing can happen through conversation, music, food, touch and simply being together.
The installation brings together textiles, sound, scent and participation. As people spend time in the gallery at Ruby Cruel, it slowly changes. Archives of ourselves remain as the exhibition becomes shaped by the people who enter and engage with it.
So Tek time. Be easy on yuhself. Breathe.
PUBLIC PROGRAMME
Tek Root – Planting Memorial Workshop
Thursday 15 October, 6-8pm
Ruby Cruel
Free to attend, booking required
A participatory workshop inviting you to plant a memorial plant and make a textile pot cover in memory of a parent who has passed over. Led by Tyreis Holder.
Book Now
Peer-Led Studio Session with Tyreis Holder
Wednesday 21 October, 6:30-8:30pm
Ruby Cruel
Free to attend, booking required
A group gathering and conversation, during which Tyreis will share insight into her practice and the cultural influences and creative considerations that shaped this new installation. This event forms part of ICF’s Professional Development programme and is for early career and emerging creative and cultural practitioners specifically.
Book Now
Wear Your Roots – Crochet Jewellery Making Workshop
Tuesday 27 October, 6-8pm
Ruby Cruel
Free to attend, booking required
An informal gathering to sit, chat and share stories while making a piece of crochet jewellery inspired by St. Vincent, identity and home. Led by Tyreis Holder.
Book Now ABOUT TYREIS HOLDER
Tyreis Holder is an interdisciplinary, socially engaged textile artist, poet, visual storyteller and community arts educator from South London, with heritage reigning from Jamaican/St Vincent.
Working across textiles, installation, performance, poetry, sculpture and sound, her practice centres creative process as a form of care and healing. Through textiles, poetry and participatory practice, she creates spaces where care, cultural memory and collective healing can be embodied. She explores selfhood, diasporic identity politics, Black Caribbean British identity, queerness, ancestral and generational healing, health politics, heritage, herbalism, archival storytelling and the creation of living archives that resist the erasure of Black Caribbean histories while navigating colonial spaces.
ABOUT ICF & RUBY CRUEL
International Curators Forum (ICF) is a catalyst and leader for cultural transformation in the visual arts, advocating for and fostering an equitable, inclusive and accessible ecology that sustains and is sustained by the value of diversity.
Through high-quality professional development initiatives (including fellowships, mentorship, and residencies), as well as critically engaged public programmes and discursive outputs (including exhibitions, commissions, events, workshops, digital projects and publications), ICF is transforming towards a better world for creative and cultural practitioners by resourcing them with the support, spaces and leadership they need.
Ruby Cruel is a non-profit creative space in Hackney, London which accommodates a flexible mix of activity including exhibitions, talks and residencies.
Tek Time is commissioned by ICF and made possible with support from Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund held at The London Community Foundation and Arts Council England.
Dates:
25 Sep 2026 - 1 Nov 2026
Location:
Ruby Cruel
