Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Gallery One, 1 Poultry, London
2026
Opening 12 March , 6-9 PM
12 March - 18 April 2026
Opening hours: Wednesday-Saturday 11-6pm
Artists: Francis Alÿs / Sara Anstis / Odonchimeg Davaadorj / Susan Eyre / Andy Holden / Jochen Lempert / Kat Lyons / Anne Marie Maes / Tiziana Pers / Amalia Pica / Bryndìs Snæbjörnsdóttir & Mark Wilson
Curated by Maria Hinel
“You have more compassion for animals than for people”
“That’s not true. I feel just as sorry for both. But nobody shoots at defenceless people. At least not these days.”
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk
Envisioning the possibilities of animal resistance against human abuse, this exhibition invites audiences to consider the lives of animals as sentient beings capable of communication, organisation and even vengeance. Dismantling the vision of non-human animals as voiceless and inert, the works in different ways grant them a space to act – to signal their unrest, seek freedom and express grievance.
Cases of animal resistance, while rarely acknowledged, occur with underreported regularity, often acting as paradoxical pathways to human identification with their plight. The artists in the exhibition present scenarios in which animals assert their presence and power – sometimes subtly, sometimes violently – subverting the entrenched hierarchy between the human and non-human. In doing so, the exhibition asks how empathy and respect might emerge from a recognition of animals as political and ethical agents in their own right.
Powerfully exposing the deformity of the hunters’ view of animal suffering, the book also probes the representation of people concerned with animal liberation – a cause that is nonetheless increasingly recognised as a social justice movement. Echoing William Blake’s dark and prophetic vision of justice – one in which moral reckoning springs from the unsettling return of what has been systematically oppressed and ignored – the exhibition considers the agency of beings beyond the parameters of the rational that constitute the human worldview.
Francis Alÿs (b. 1959) is known for his in-depth projects in a wide range of media, including documentary film, painting, drawing, performance, two-dimensional animation, and video. Through his practice, Alÿs consistently directs his distinct poetic and imaginative sensibility toward anthropological and geopolitical concerns centered around observations of, and engagements with, everyday life. He was the subject of numerous institutional exhibitions internationally, including the recent exhibition at the Barbican Art Centre (2024) and a major survey exhibitions at Tate Modern (2010).
Sara Anstis (b. 1991, Sweden; lives and works in London) studied at Valand Academy, Gothenburg, and the Royal Drawing School, London. Anstis uses sensuous soft pastels and oil paint to build worlds that set the stage for explorations of subjectivity, mythology, and ecology. Recent solo exhibitions include Perrotin, Tokyo (2025); and Kasmin, New York (2024).
Odonchimeg Davaadorj (b. 1990, Mongolia; lives and works in France) studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. In her paintings and works on paper, Davaadorj considers the relations between human and animal lives, drawing on animism and nomadic cosmologies. Selected exhibitions: Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (2026); Maison des Arts et de la Culture-Villa Médicis, Ville de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés (2025); Museum Folkwang, Essen (2023).
Susan Eyre (lives and works in the UK) studied Fine Art in London. Her research-led practice spans installation, sculpture, and moving image, engaging with perception, magnetism and more-than-human systems. Recent exhibitions include Royal West of England Academy, Bristol (2025); Hypha HQ (2025); Advanced Research Centre, Glasgow (2025).
Andy Holden’s (b. 1982, UK) work comprises large installations, sculpture, painting, music, performance, animation, curating and multi-channel video works. His work is often defined by very personal starting points used to arrive at more abstract philosophical questions. He is the subject of an upcoming solo exhibition at Tate Liverpool. Recent solo exhibitions include Hudersfield Museum (2025); Tate St Ives (2024), The Perimeter (2024).
Jochen Lempert (b. 1958, Germany) trained as a biologist before turning to photography. His works attend closely to animals, plants, and natural phenomena. Exhibited with palpable immediacy and materiality his works question our attitudes and views on the natural world. Selected solo exhibitions: Museum voor Fotographie, Amsterdam (2022); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2022); Kunsthaus Wien, Vienna (2018).
Kat Lyons (b. 1991, US) draws on her personal experience on a livestock farm, as well as distinct representations of animal lives to probe human attitudes towards animals. By presenting her subjects across various planes of existence her compositions aim to highlight nonhuman contributions to humankind, the challenges they face, and their rich emotional lives that bond all phenomena in the common experience of life on earth. Recent solo exhibitions include Marquez Art Projects (2025) and Tank Museum, Shanghai (2025).
Anne Marie Maes (b. 1955, Belgium) studied visual arts in Brussels and works across art, science, and ecology. Her research-driven practice explores interspecies communication, microbial life, and symbiotic systems with a particular focus on bee agency. Selected exhibitions: WIELS, Brussels (2025); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022); ZKM, Karlsruhe (2019).
Tiziana Pers’ (b. 1976, Italy) practice includes painting, performance, installation, and activism to address animal exploitation and ethics of care. She runs several long-term projects, including Art_History in which she exchanges a painting to save a sentient being from slaughter. Her work was recently exhibited at Selected exhibitions: The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2025); Triennale Milano (2024); MAXXI, Rome (2023).
Amalia Pica (b. 1978, Argentina; lives and works in London) studied in Buenos Aires and at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. Her works span installation, video, collage, sculpture and performance, and examine systems of communication and exchange. She was recently the subject of a solo exhibition at Cample Line, Scotland (2025); Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2023) and Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2020).
Rafael Ortega (b. Mexico) is a London-based cinematographer whose art practice gravitates around moving image collaborative projects with both artists and museums. Through this process he has been part of more than 75 projects. Some collaborations include works with Francis Alÿs, Abraham Cruzvillegas, João Penalva, Amalia Pica, Pablo Vargas Lugo, Melanie Smith, Javier Tellez and the Amparo Museum, Mexico.
Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir (b. 1955, Iceland) and Mark Wilson (b. 1954, UK) investigate through their collaborative practice, how animals are classified, displayed, and controlled within human systems of knowledge. Recent solo exhibitions include National Gallery of Iceland (2026); Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík (2022) and Edinburgh Art Festival (2019).