The Thinking Hand is a process-led exhibition by artists Tanvi Kant, Richard Phoenix, Tom Pope and Anne-Marie Watson. The project unfolds through participation and exchange, engaging with our neighbourhood and local communities, turning Devonshire Collective’s gallery into a site of shared making.

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The “thinking hand” refers to a form of knowledge that emerges through doing. Drawing, repeating, playing, assembling, drumming, making, writing and listening are some of the ways you will be invited into flow and experimentation through hands-on activity.

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We have invited the four artists based on the South Coast to respond and collectively position the gallery as a resource for our communities to participate in:

Tanvi Kant is an interdisciplinary artist exploring embodied memory through playful, tactile engagement with materials. For The Thinking Hand, raw materials hang from the ceiling, ready to be foraged, handled and remade. Across the exhibition, the Devonshire Collective team will learn tea-making, developing a new blend shaped by visitors and local edible plants in collaboration with Rooted Community Food. Tanvi will host a series of gatherings in the space.

Richard Phoenix works across painting, arts facilitation, DIY music, and supported studio practice, grounded in a belief in open, unobserved space. His work moves through shifting rhythms to reach the “shimmer” - a state of flow where time bends, worlds overlap and sound leads. During the exhibition, Richard and the Devonshire Collective team invite you to play records, use the drums, bring instruments, and - if you like - record what unfolds.

Tom Pope works across performance and photography, with play at the core of his practice. It operates both as a subject within his works and as a method, shaping how he engages with and utilises the photographic medium. In The Thinking Hand, Pope turns his attention to the pub games found along Seaside Road, using them as a point of entry into shared, everyday rituals of leisure and interaction. You are invited to participate in the East Sussex Association of Play, a newly formed research group that sits between art and the social, foregrounding play as a mode of collective inquiry.

Anne-Marie Watson's practice begins with writing. In her intricate, handwritten text drawings, words accumulate into abstract visual forms, tracing the rhythms of thought, feeling, and presence as they move through her hand onto the page. Repetition and flow are at the heart of this work: the same word written again and again until it loosens from its meaning and becomes something else, image, texture, release. Alongside her drawings, a writing station and sound work invite you to slow down and enter the same process. During the exhibition, Anne-Marie will be in residence for one-week, drawing, writing and gently guiding visitors into their own process. Come and explore what feels most meaningful to you, through the simple act of putting words on a page.

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How to Get Involved

There are multiple ways to participate and interact with the work throughout the exhibition. Visitors are invited to take part at their own pace, contributing traces rather than fixed outcomes as the project continues.

The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday, 12–5pm. Programmed activities will be listed in advance, alongside quieter times for more relaxed engagement.

A celebration sharing event will take place on Wednesday 10 June 2026, 3 - 7pm.

To book a session for a group, please email polly@devonshirecollective.co.uk.

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