Lindsey Mendick: Hot Mess

Please note that this exhibition has now closed. It took place from 23 November 2024 to 27 April 2025.

Celebrated artist Lindsey Mendick created new ceramic works for the Sainsbury Centre to explore her thoughts on Why Do We Take Drugs?.

In her most personal work to date, Mendick explored her intertwined relationship with alcohol, anxiety and antidepressants. Through mythology, pathos and humour, she unpacked her (at times) debilitating anxiety and the ways in which society has learned to self-medicate by taking drugs and drinking socially.

In this series, Mendick nods to the work of Francis Bacon, Tracey Emin, and Arman (Armand Fernandez). Her work was positioned around the Sainsbury Centre collection display, disrupting the aesthetic to represent the hungover aftermath of a party.

Lindsey Mendick won the Sky Arts Award for Visual Art in 2024.

Hot Mess was part of a six-month season of interlinked exhibitions and events that explore the question Why Do We Take Drugs?

Images: Installation views of Lindsey Mendick, Hot Mess. Photography by Kate Wolstenholme.