I'm exhibiting at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre with my exhibition Nowherby Gateway, see below for details.
Nowherby Gateway — Marc Renshaw
13 November 2025 – 10 January 2026
Showcase Exhibition at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, UK
Marc Renshaw presents Nowherby Gateway, a new installation exploring the edgelands of Scunthorpe, UK — those shifting, in-between spaces that exist on the edge of the town.
Displayed in the café showcase, this small-scale exhibition brings together metal prints, found artefacts, and a short film, offering a reflective look at overlooked landscapes and personal encounters with place.
Marc’s open-ended approach captures the preliminary stages of research into an area he has only visited a handful of times, revealing a sense of quiet discovery and curiosity’.
Visitors may already be familiar with Marc’s work in the building — his hand-drawn map can be found above the sinks in the gallery toilets, and his prints and merchandise are available in the 20-21 shop.
For this exhibition, the title and artist name will appear in Marc’s own handwriting, adding a personal touch to the presentation.
Words from the artist:
Drawing is at the core of my practice although much of my work is digital. For Nowherby Gateway, I’ve used digital drawing, photographs taken on my iPhone and iPad, AI and found objects discovered during a walk. I’m interested in the everyday landscapes which we inhabit and re-present these often with hints of digital smudging, light brushes to illuminate the often-depressing gloominess I feel in everyday life.
Scunthorpe is best known for the steelworks that brought exponential growth to the town from the exploitation of local ironstone through the first half of the 20th century. The site is an imposing presence near the centre of town. Much of the town’s present industry however is on the periphery. These enterprises nestle in commercial parkland, with manicured landscaping and public access, along with wilder areas if one ventures to the edge-lands, where nature encroaches and roads lead to nowhere.
Production, distribution, software, packaging, engineering, and diverse other businesses are at work here fuelling the town’s economy. It’s these edges I’m drawn to. While to me they are nowhere places, they are somewhere places to a lot of local people, a route to incomes, livelihoods, a sense of community and relative security.
My limited lived experience working at a business park was a factory night shift some fifteen years ago. While there, I felt trapped, wishing time away. I’m too sensitive for these environments; too scared. The reality of a production line is tough for a for a brain that meanders, inducing sadness and provoking a survival response.
This reality is remote from my fascination with the potentiality for escapism I feel as an outsider. Perhaps having grown up on a small isle, dreaming of possible futures, now motivates my migration to these concrete islands in search of illusive notions of success.
I imagine euphoria in the dullness, the slim prospect of personal opportunity and freedom within an impersonal chunk of capitalism.
https://www.2021visualartscentre.co.uk/