A Collaborative Exhibition and Book Launch by Writer Tommy Holmes and Artist Imogen Morris
Launch Night: Friday 3rd October, 6–9PM
Exhibition Open Daily: 9AM – 5PM
Location: Digbeth Art Space, Zellig, Gibb Street, B9 4AT
Books available to purchase throughout the duration of the exhibition.
Digbeth Art Space is proud to announce its inaugural collaborative exhibition and book launch: Treading Water, a powerful and immersive exploration of mental health, vulnerability, and creative expression by writer Tommy Holmes and thread artist Imogen Morris.
Bringing together Holmes’ honest, introspective writing and Morris’ emotionally charged visual art, Treading Water invites viewers to step into the raw, inner world of their artists.
Within Digbeth Art Space’s gallery, Holmes’ evocative, thoughtful, and often darkly humorous words surround Morris’s thread-and-nail sculptures. The result being an emotionally rich, spatially immersive experience that blurs the line between text and image, chaos and clarity.
“On the surface, everything can appear calm… while underneath we are working tirelessly just to stay afloat.” — Tommy Holmes
At the heart of Treading Water lies an unflinching examination of mental health—its quiet burdens, its loud disruptions, and the quiet acts of survival that accompany it. Holmes’ writing offers an unfiltered window into personal struggles—dark, gritty, painfully sincere—while Morris interprets and expands upon these themes through her distinctive thread work.
“The imagery of hands feature heavily throughout the exhibition. They are Tom’s tools to write with, but they’re also forms of expression in themselves.” — Imogen Morris
The exhibition’s title, Treading Water, encapsulates the shared emotional thread of the show: the unseen effort to maintain composure in the face of internal chaos.
Join us for the launch evening on Friday 3rd October, 6–9pm, to meet the artists and experience the exhibition first-hand. Copies of the accompanying book, featuring the full collection of Holmes’ writing and accompanying imagery by artist and designer Jessica Morris, will be available to purchase throughout the exhibition’s run.