Phoebe Collings-James
Phoebe Collings-James (b.1987 London, UK) is an artist and ceramicist based in London whose works function as “emotional detritus”; speaking of knowledges of feelings, the debris of violence, language, and desire which are inherent to living and surviving within hostile environments. Her work spans across sculpture, sound, performance and installation, and unpacks the object as subject by giving life and tension to ceramic forms.
Colling-James’ musical alias, young nettle, is a member of B.O.S.S., a QTIBIPOC sound system
based in South London. Drawn to high octane sensual emotional sound, with heavy bass and wild
lyrical flows, young nettle creates sound design for original music productions, including Sounds 4 Survival, an undulating live performance created with SERAFINE1369 which asks the question of
what an anti-assimilationist practice can be.
Collings-James also runs Mudbelly, a ceramics studio which began as a personal practice and
research outlet, but has since grown to encompass a shop and a teaching facility offering free
ceramics courses for Black people in London, taught by Black ceramicists.
Collings-James was the summer 2022 incubator resident at The Archie Bray in Helena, Montana at
the invitation of Theaster Gates. In 2021, Colling-James was the Freelands Ceramic Fellow at
Camden Arts Centre. Recent solo and duo exhibitions: A Scratch! A Scratch! at Camden Arts Centre,
London, UK (2021); Who Blows The Horn?, Picture Room, New York, US (2021); Give Me A Minute,
performance at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR (2018); The Amount of Love You Have to Give is More
Than I Can Stand, Ginerva Gambino, Cologne, DE (2018); Relative Strength, Arcadia Missa, London,
UK (2018). Recent group exhibitions: Body Vessel Clay at Two Temple Place, London, UK (2022);
Crowd Control, High Art Arles, Arles, FR (2022); Produktive Bildstörung. Sigmar Polke und aktuelle
künstlerische Positionen, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, DE (2021); In Whose Eyes, Beaconsfield Gallery, London, UK (2018).
