An Interview with Amy-Rose Edlyn: On confronting trauma, building something radically different & 'aliveness'
- Finn Brown
- Jun 4
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 5
Exhibit P* is a transdisciplinary art exhibition coming to Firepit on 19th June. The exhibition presents contemporary works by 10 queer artists that all engage themes of self-authorship, radical reimagining, and resistance to systemic oppressions.
We speak to Amy-Rose Edlyn (Co-Artistic Director, Bold Mellon Collective), whose live-art performance piece of the same name inspired the exhibition and who is the co-curator of this exhibition alongside Josie Alexandra (Artistic Director, Aeaea Studios). They talk to us about the evolution of the project, pushing boundaries and art as disruption.
This exhibition is an evolution of the live-art performance ‘Exhibit P*’ that was showcased last year at Stanley Arts. Can you tell us about this process of evolution, the original performance and how it has transformed into the upcoming exhibition?
Exhibit P* began as a live-art performance developed through an experimental devising process at Ugly Duck, Stanley Arts and with support of Viv Gordon Company, where I used fluid painting, poetry, water and sound to explore the psychological aftermath of sexual trauma and systemic failure. The performance was deeply rooted in creative ritual, memory, and my lived experience of PTSD, offering a queer, abstract lens on these themes.
Sharing this piece was a pivotal moment, and collaborating with photographer & performance artist Devika Bilimoria to document it led me into a new realm of blurring the lines between performance and visual art. Capturing both the tension of being in process and being on display - exhibited.
Since then, Exhibit P* has evolved into a transdisciplinary exhibition through my artist residency at Firepit Art Gallery. In collaboration with producer & artist Josie Alexandra, it now brings together a constellation of artists confronting systemic oppressions, where live performance, visual art, and activism intersect. Rather than a static archive, the exhibition is a living, breathing process - an active resistance that continues beyond the gallery walls through protests, charity work raising awareness and education.
Josie wrote an essay response to the my performance in December 2024 and that led us to collaborate in expanding Exhibit P*. Initially, Josie wanted to conduct research for a documentary idea, but in our true neuro-spicey ways, our conversations led us to curating and putting together Exhibit P* at Firepit!
Exhibit P* interrogates the psychological aftermath of sexual trauma and the impact of a broken criminal justice system. What role can all disciplines of art play in questioning and dismantling institutions, and addressing trauma?
Art can be a tool of positive disruption, an accessible path to activism. It can challenge the systems that silence us - whether they’re political, cultural, medical, legal or societal. It can expose injustice and host space to explore/express complex and painful realities in ways that shut down avoidance.
In the Exhibit P* exhibition, we confront trauma and question institutions through varied creative disciplines, demanding visibility on our own terms and reclaiming personal narratives.
Art lets us grieve, rage, and imagine new worlds where survival isn’t the ceiling, but the start of liberation and the beginning of dismantling oppressive structures by embracing autonomy and agency against binaries.
All around us we are seeing queer and especially trans people being failed by the institutions who are in place to support us. What does a specifically queer lens bring to these conversations around PTSD and the systemic failures of institutions?
It's vital to first interrogate the assumption behind the question - that institutions are meant to support us. This is a false narrative. We live under a monarchy, within an imperialist, patriarchal, capitalist system. These structures are functioning exactly as they were designed: to protect capital, uphold power, and maintain exclusionary hierarchies.
When we acknowledge that these institutions were never created with women, queer, trans and disabled people, working-class communities, or migrants in mind, we free ourselves to imagine and build new systems - networks of care and solidarity that serve us on our own terms. A queer lens invites us to question the very foundation of these systems, not just reform them. It calls for a complete overhaul, for building something radically different.
That’s why creating and sustaining accessible LGBTQIA+ spaces is so essential. These are places where we can connect, grow in confidence, realize we are not alone, and figure out how to survive and resist within structures that don’t necessarily serve us.
In this context, PTSD becomes a limited framework. For many queer people, there is no “post” in our trauma, no clear “after.” The trauma is ongoing, woven into the fabric of daily life. This is where art becomes vital: as a means of expression, resistance, and world-building in the face of relentless systemic harm.
This project was developed as part of a residency at Firepit Art Gallery and Studios CIC. Can you tell us about your experience of a residency, and what that space and time offered to your practice?
Wow, where do I start… I don’t want to sound dramatic, but this residency has changed a lot for me… It has given me space to breathe and to exist artistically alongside continuing to build community spaces and emerging artists opportunities. This is the first time I have done this in a visual arts capacity. I don’t know what it would have been like had I taken part in a residency elsewhere, but I am SO glad I found Firepit! It is an absolute gem, a haven, and I finally feel like my multidisciplinary practise is starting to make sense and take shape as the Exhibit P* exhibition approaches! Firepit offers a malleable and supportive space which Founding Director Marcus Jake has crafted as a CIC over the past 2 years. I would highly recommend checking out what’s on and coming to visit: HOME | Firepit
This exhibition brings together living artefacts - materials, documentation, and visceral creations born from practices where the boundaries between disciplines dissolve. What excites you about the possibilities of this kind of art?
It’s unstoppable and constantly evolving! That’s what excites me. The fact that every project is still alive, developing and open to influence with no specific box to fit in. I’ve always struggled to stick to one medium itself… especially if commercial standards of art is anything to go by, but in curating Exhibit P* alongside Josie, we found freedom in embracing the process and ‘aliveness’ of each artists’ work and presenting a non-traditional exhibition that uplifts and celebrates the artist's transdisciplinary practices.
Devika Bilimoria performing Offerings by Fenia Kotsopoulou & Costume by Devika Bilimoria
You talk about this project as being part of an ongoing journey. Where are you taking us next?
We want to expand the exhibition into more of an immersive experience encompassing the mixed-media fully. So, ideally we would be facilitating the actual live performances reflecting the exhibited works. Alongside this, we want to elevate the activist elements and engage organisations whose work surrounds topics discussed in the exhibition to fully inhabit this culturally evolving curation as a platform for change. Exhibit P* will be developed with protest, access and community engagement in mind. We also have two workshops led by exhibiting artists this time round and would love to programme more in the future!
Exhibit P* is taking place at Firepit from 19th June - 28th June. Featured Exhibiting Artists: AMY-ROSE EDLYN, DEAR ANNIE, CHARLIE WOOD, DEVIKA BILIMORIA, EMILIA NURMUKHAMET, JAMES ZATKA-HAAS, JASMINE LASFAR' JOSIE ALEXANDRA, TASNIM SIDDIQA AMIN and VENUS RAVEN.
Edited by Josie Alexandra and James Zatka-Haas
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