SPILL YER TEA is an open supportive platform for emerging and established artists, students and graduates and collectives and groups to share new artwork that is either ready-to-go, or is in its developmental stages.

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In partnership with Constellations, Liverpool

PRETENTIOUS DROSS

Strange Loop

Strange Loop blends drag, visual projection, body art, spoken word, and film to create a cyclical narrative that deconstructs and reconstructs gender identity in real time. Through the repetitive acts of lip-syncing, drinking water, and performing a genital tuck, the artist blurs the line between the constructed and the innate, with each gesture symbolizing both a physical transformation and a deeper commentary on fluidity and self-perception. When the performance reverses, the acts unravel in a kind of rewind, unmasking the artifice and vulnerability of gender performance, and inviting the audience to question the stability of identity as well as the societal rituals of presentation, concealment, and self-acceptance

Artist: Pretentious Dross, Strange Loop, SPILL YER TEA, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Wilson

NATALIE WARDLE

CONTROL PANT SYMPHONY

CONTROL PANT SYMPHONY explores the intense pressures women face to mold and constrain their bodies in pursuit of an idealized form shaped by societal expectations and celebrity influence. Through acts symbolising restrictive practices, such as mimicking celebrity workouts, using tit tape to manipulate appearance, or emphasising body, shaping techniques, the artist reveals the lengths women go to conform to narrow beauty standards. The piece highlights how these practices, marketed as empowerment or self-care, often serve to enforce rigid ideals, making the female body a canvas of external expectations rather than a true expression of self.

Artist: Natalie Wardle, CONTROL PANT SYMPHONY, SPILL YER TEA, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Wilson

LAURA MUTCH & FRANCESS GANNON

Plastic Trees

Plastic Trees intertwines film, movement, and fragmented text to critically examine the intersections of gender, technology, and the objectification of women, emphasizing how contemporary media shapes perceptions of femininity and agency. The work illustrates the ways in which women’s bodies are commodified and manipulated within digital landscapes, highlighting the tension between empowerment and exploitation in an age of constant surveillance and consumption. Fragmented text serves as a narrative thread, interrupting the visual flow to provoke reflection on the language of sexual appropriation, inviting viewers to confront and dismantle the cultural narratives that reduce female identity to mere spectacle within a technological framework.

Artists: Francess Gannon & Laura Mutch, Plastic Trees, SPILL YER TEA, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Wilson

BENJAMIN ROSTANCE

Circle Performance

In this live charcoal drawing performance titled Circle Performance, the artist uses sweeping, intense gestures across a large 7-by-6-foot wall space, embodying the raw and chaotic energy of PTSD through expansive, visceral marks. The medium of charcoal, smudged, erased, and reworked, mirrors the cycles of trauma, as each layer speaks to moments of clarity, distortion, and recurrence, capturing the haunting impermanence of memory. The physicality of the performance, with the artist’s body pressing against and moving along the wall, creates a dynamic, immersive experience, making the audience feel the overwhelming presence of PTSD’s weight and the struggle to reclaim agency within it.

Artist: Benjamin Rostance, Circle Performance, SPILL YER TEA, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Ab

ALASDAIR AMBROSE

ALTERCATION: 010819

In this durational full-body shaving ritual titled ALTERCATION: 010819, the artist uses the vulnerability of shaving as a protest against social traumas, making the private act of body grooming a public spectacle of resilience and reclamation. Each stroke removes not only hair but symbolic layers of imposed identity, exposing the raw impact of collective injustices on the individual psyche and body. The ritual speaks to the wear of societal scars, transforming the act of shaving into a visceral shedding of past burdens, laying bare the tension between personal identity and external pressures.

Artist: Alasdair Ambrose, ALTERCATION: 010819, SPILL YER TEA, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Ab

RAH

Solve et Coagula 22

In Solve et Coagula 22, the artist extracts their own blood to create a tattoo depicting symbols from tarot cards, merging bodily essence with ancient archetypes to explore themes of fate, identity, and self-determination. Each tattooed image, rendered in the artist’s blood, serves as both a personal talisman and a powerful invocation, binding physical pain with spiritual introspection and inviting the audience to witness the raw vulnerability of self-marking. By etching tarot imagery, a tool traditionally used to interpret hidden truths, directly onto their skin, the artist transforms the ritual of tattooing into a confrontation with destiny, challenging the boundaries between the body’s material limits and its metaphysical journey.

Artist: Rah, Solve et Coaguala 22, SPILL YER TEA, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Ab

KAJOLI ILOJAK

Matriarchal Tarantula

Matriarchal Tarantula critiques the illusion of empowerment granted to women within patriarchal structures, where certain women are given limited authority or status that serves only to reinforce the system’s inherent inequalities. By positioning women against each other, these systems create a facade of agency, while the real power remains tightly controlled and unchallenged by the patriarchy itself. This so-called “fake power” not only perpetuates internalised misogyny but also diverts focus from solidarity, subtly coercing women into roles that oppress rather than liberate each other, ultimately sustaining the patriarchal order they seek to dismantle.

Artist: Kajoli Ilojak, Matriarchal Tarantula, SPILL YER TEA #1, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Ab

KELLY SWIFT

Equilibrium

Equilibrium is a participatory performance invites audience members to enter a designated square and collaborate physically and mentally to achieve a collective sense of balance within its boundaries. As participants adjust their bodies in relation to one another, shifting weight, changing stances, or moving subtly to stabilise the dynamic, the performance becomes a metaphor for the complexities of social harmony and mutual support. The act of balancing within the square requires a heightened awareness of personal space, shared vulnerability, and interdependence, transforming a simple geometric space into a dynamic exploration of unity, trust, and the delicate equilibrium of human relationships.

Artist: Kelly Swift, Equilibrium, SPILL YER TEA #1, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Wilson

GEMMA JONES

Spit Pearl Spit

This durational performance challenges viewers by juxtaposing elements of glamour and repulsion, as the artist holds statuesque poses while continuously spitting out pearls, a symbol traditionally associated with beauty and refinement. The pearls, transformed into something grotesque through this act, provoke a visceral reaction, subverting their usual allure and questioning societal ideals of femininity and beauty. The colour pink, central to the piece, is explored in all its complexities, embodying both softness and intensity, innocence and provocation, as the artist invites the audience to reconsider its layered cultural meanings.

Artist: Gemma Jones, Spit Pearl Spit, SPILL YER TEA #1, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Wilson

FRANCES KAY

How Do You Like My Dress

The artist uses a Union Jack dress as a symbol of national identity and personal history, exploring themes of belonging, fragmentation, and the complexities of cultural heritage. As the performance unfolds, the act of cutting up the dress serves as a powerful metaphor for deconstructing preconceived notions of identity and the societal expectations tied to national symbols, revealing the layers of personal experience that often go unseen. By meticulously pinning the dress back together, the artist not only reclaims their narrative but also emphasises the resilience of identity, transforming the once-flagged garment into a patchwork of stories, struggles, and triumphs that speaks to the multifaceted nature of self in a contemporary world.

Artist: Francis Kay, How Do You Like My Dress, SPILL YER TEA #1, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Ab

FLLOYD KENNEDY

Bessie Bares All

In this clowning sketch of Bessie Bares All, the performer uses humor and absurdity to blur the boundaries between performance and authenticity, cycling between singing, rapping, and strumming the ukulele to keep the audience in a playful yet curious state. With each shift in style, the clown persona begins to unravel, hinting at vulnerabilities and glimpses of the performer’s true self beneath the exaggerated mask. As the act progresses, the humor grows more introspective, and the act of revealing the performer’s true identity becomes a commentary on the fluidity of identity itself, challenging the audience to question what lies behind every facade.

Artist: Flloyd Kennedy, How Do You Like My Dress, SPILL YER TEA #1, 2019 Photographer: Andrew Ab