Meet Becca Pelly-Fry: Exploring Art’s Transformative Power
CFC Members Spotlight is a bi-monthly interview series showcasing the work of our members on our blog and social media. Through this series, we highlight the diverse curatorial practices in our community and encourage new connections and exchange.
Meet CFC Member Becca Pelly-Fry
Becca Pelly-Fry is a curator and consultant based in Folkestone, working across the UK. Previously Head Curator for Griffin Gallery and then Elephant West, Becca now works independently. She is an Associate Consultant for people make it work, a Mentor for Arts Emergency, and a member of BAN, YPA and AWITA.
We recently interviewed Becca Pelly-Fry to learn more about her curatorial journey, inspirations, and insights into the art world.
Image credit: Installation view of Body Poetics, with Rae Yen Song and Niki de Saint Phalle, GIANT Gallery, Bournemouth, 2023 (Photo: Jamie James).
CFC: What thread or idea ties your work together?
BPF: I am interested in the moment when meeting art becomes a transformative experience. My experience of art has been transformative in so many ways, so I’m interested in when, why and how that happens for other people. In creating exhibitions and projects that intersect across modalities, such as holistic wellbeing, live performance and music, a more immersive, sensorial encounter takes place which can create a shift in the visitor’s mind/body. More specifically, I am interested in the soft spaces and magical happenings that can occur when the colonial-patriarchal constrictions of our everyday lives are removed – we are soft bodied, complex, messy beings and art creates spaces for that to be celebrated and enjoyed.
CFC: Name a project or exhibition that holds special significance for you. What made it stand out?
BPF: A couple of years ago I co-curated a large-scale exhibition in Bournemouth with Marcelle Joseph, called Body Poetics, pairing nine feminist artists working at the advent of feminist theory in the 1970’s and 80’s with a contemporary artist from a younger generation. It was a dream come true in many ways – working with Marcelle was wonderful and the show included artists I have long admired such as Kiki Smith, Niki de Saint Phalle, Judy Chicago, Helen Chadwick, Louise Bourgeois and Senga Nengudi.
Image credit: Installation view, Anna Liber Lewis + Four Tet, Muscle Memory at Elephant West, 2018 (Photo: Oliver Holms).
CFC: What’s your favorite part about being a curator? And, if you don’t mind sharing, what’s the most challenging?
BPF: Being a curator means no two days are the same, I get to work with the most incredible artists and I am contributing positively to the world – it’s a dream job in so many ways!
Interestingly, and as with many things in life, the challenges are often just the other side of the same coin – there is an awful lot of uncertainty and financial precarity in being an independent curator. But those tough places are often where the greatest creativity springs from.
CFC: Any hot takes on the current state of the curatorial field or the art world in general? What do we need more or less of?
BPF: There are more curators, more artists, more creative roles than ever before… This is all putting enormous pressure on the existing systems, which means some of them are breaking, while others are adapting and new ideas are beginning to take root. It feels precarious and scary at times, but I think also full of optimism and opportunity. I can see a world, not too far in the future, where creativity breaks free of its high-net-worth-market-driven shackles so that artists and creators have much more control over their own finances and destinies.
CFC: What advice would you give to aspiring curators just starting their careers?
BPF: Get out and meet as many people as you can, learn who to trust and who to stay away from (hopefully without too much risk to your wellbeing), build a diverse network of trusted people around you who share your integrity and authenticity but who encourage you to see things from different perspectives. Look for opportunities to grow and learn, and never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something; there is always a way, even if it takes longer than you hoped. Slow is not a bad way to go.
Explore more of Becca Pelly-Fry’s work on her website.
Profile photo credit: Portrait taken at OHSH Projects, Curated Editions #1: New Mythologies, 2022 (Photo: King & McGaw)
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