A foothold is a place of security, a position tentatively sought out and tested for stability; its ability to hold firm without yielding to your weight, shifting, disintegrating, tipping you off balance. It is the physical act of finding purchase in the world around you. A foothold also provides the foundation for a moment’s rest, a pause between movement: an exhalation. Artists Freya Gabie and Neville Gabie have been negotiating this precarious city - neither solid ground, nor purely water - developing a series of responses as part of an ongoing project which will be further developed through the summer of 2026.

With a background in sculpture, Neville Gabie’s practice has always been driven by working in response to specific locations or situations caught in a moment of change. Highly urbanized or distantly remote, his work is a response to the vulnerability of place. Gabie’s interest is in establishing a working relationship within a particular community as a means of considering its physical, cultural or emotional geography. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa – MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London 1986/88

Freya Gabie studied sculpture at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art.
Freya is a multi-disciplinary artist, with a focus on sculpture and drawing. She is interested in highlighting unnoticed narratives manifest within different scenarios, places and objects. Often working with the familiar or ordinary, her work considers what our material culture says about contemporary society. Small, playful interactions/conversations take place between the artist and the things around her; retelling them in new form to reveal unfamiliar characteristics, highlight different histories and create an altered material inheritance.