Tom Kaniok: Mud Makes the Revivalists

Mud Makes The Revivalists explores our relationship with nature through ecology, climate change, memory, and belonging. Drawing on ideas of animism: the belief that landscapes are alive and capable of influence. The exhibition suggests that places are not passive backdrops, but active presences that shape how we feel and act. Through drawing and painting, Tom considers the natural elements we are drawn to and what these connections reveal about our bond with the land.

The exhibition brings together works in several mediums, tracing Tom’s evolving response to Kingsbridge alongside earlier works made in other rural settings. His process began with creative writing, then moved to oil painting on wood, graphite drawing, and finally large-scale watercolour. Each stage marks a shift in perspective, forming a chronological record of his engagement with the town.

Tom explored Kingsbridge through walking, observing, writing, and making. Growing up beside the Fal River and now based on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, he brings lived experience of working landscapes into dialogue with this estuary setting. His work connects memory with direct observation, reflecting on how relationships between people and place change over time.