Annabel McCourt – I’m Sorry

The first retrospective exhibition by Barton-on-Humber based artist Annabel McCourt, exploring politics, conflict, LGBTQIA+ history, and deeply personal themes of apology and healing.

Between April and July 2025, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre will host the first retrospective exhibition by Barton-on-Humber based artist Annabel McCourt. Annabel is one of North Lincolnshire’s most successful artists. Her artworks in recent years have featured as part of the Midsumma Festival, Melbourne, Australia, Dak'Art biennial in Senegal and exhibited at the Art Museum of Nanjing, China. During 2022 she worked as British Council Artist in Residence in San Paolo, Brazil.

The subjects of Annabel’s sculptures and installations include world-politics, conflict and LGBTQIA+ history. She often makes works using dramatic industrial materials, such as rusted steel, repurposed industrial artefacts, and neon lighting. Despite the often confrontational appearance and matter of her artworks, she sees the works as ‘catalysts for conversation’ as opposed to pushing any particular viewpoint or agenda.

Central to the exhibition will be I’m Sorry – a new series of touring artworks inspired by the artist’s own deeply personal experience of loss. The artworks concentrate on the powerful, restorative and healing experience of saying “I’m Sorry”. The installation includes photographs created with the local community, large-scale neon artworks, and a space for visitors to write their own ‘I’m Sorry’ statements, especially those aimed at loved-ones who are no longer here to hear them.

Also on display will be the Electric Fence – an evolving interactive installation about exclusion and the barriers we all face in our lives. Mimicking a prison-style style fence with faux barbed wire and CCTV cameras – this visually powerful piece dares people to come forward and touch the ‘electric fence’.

I’m Sorry by Annabel McCourt is a touring exhibition from Barnsley Civic.