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We’re expecting high visitor numbers on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 August and the car park is very likely to get full, which means we can’t guarantee entry. Please car share if you can and consider visiting in the afternoon for a smoother visit. For more tips to help you get the most from your visit this summer read our full guide.

Exhibitions

Emii Alrai
RIVER OF BLACK STONE

15 February - 15 June 2025

About the
Exhibition

Inspired by the disruptive nature of volcanic eruption and the paintings of Vesuvius in our Naples collection, Emii Alrai wove together ancient mythologies, research and nostalgia as a critical response to the times.

Visitors could explore a sequence of immersive rooms referencing the romanticism of great voyages and discoveries of the past.

In this exhibition of new and reimagined works, sculptural objects became artefacts and drawings became mosaics bringing together textures, images and voice, turning the galleries into a theatre of the past, lit by the match of imagination.

About
Emii Alrai

Emii Alrai (b.1993) is an artist, ex-museum registrar and writer. Alrai’s work investigates memory, critiques the western museological structure and explores the complexity of ruins. Working primarily in sculpture and installation, her work operates as large-scale realms built in relation to bodies of research concerning archaeology and the natural environments objects are excavated from.

Emii Alrai River of Black Stone, Installation View © Compton Verney and Jamie Woodley
Large sculptural installations with rough-textured fragments mounted on metal stands in a gallery space. There are white/beige stone-like pieces and dark charred-looking elements arranged throughout the exhibition space. The fragments reference archaeological artifacts or architectural remains.
Zoom picture 1 of 5
Large sculptural installations with rough-textured fragments mounted on metal stands in a gallery space. There are white/beige stone-like pieces and dark charred-looking elements arranged throughout the exhibition space. The fragments reference archaeological artifacts or architectural remains.
Zoom picture 2 of 5
A new room of the exhibition with deep red walls where glass vessels and white lilies are displayed on what looks like volcanic rock or black soil. This creates a striking contrast between the delicate transparent glass, pure white flowers, and rough black material. Black and white photographs hang on the walls behind these installations.
Zoom picture 3 of 5
A new room of the exhibition with deep red walls where glass vessels and white lilies are displayed on what looks like volcanic rock or black soil. This creates a striking contrast between the delicate transparent glass, pure white flowers, and rough black material. Black and white photographs hang on the walls behind these installations.
Zoom picture 4 of 5
A new room of the exhibition with deep red walls where glass vessels and white lilies are displayed on what looks like volcanic rock or black soil. This creates a striking contrast between the delicate transparent glass, pure white flowers, and rough black material. Black and white photographs hang on the walls behind these installations.
Zoom picture 5 of 5
Open the gallery to view all images

Emii Alrai Gallery

5 images