Artist Spotlight: ICA London star sparks Torquay art revolution

Welcome to 2026! For our first arts column of the year, I’m thrilled to introduce Jamie Lewis Hadley, a curator and creative force who’s brought years of experience from London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts to our Bay.

With two groundbreaking exhibitions opening at Torre Abbey on January 20 and ambitious plans for a Festival of Torquay in 2027, Jamie is reimagining what's possible for our creative community.

What brought you back to Devon from London and what excites you most about the creative possibilities here in Torquay?

It was a confluence of things. I was living in a studio apartment in Dalston at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, and the thought of a lockdown in a small space on my own felt a bit/very overwhelming. Additionally, after eight years of working at the ICA, they offered me a redundancy, and it felt like a good time to move on. And perhaps most importantly, my fiancé lives in Torquay, as well as Mama Lewis over in Budleigh Salterton, so Devon felt like a move in the right direction.

I had achieved a good few larger projects in London and thought that I could use that experience and vision to make an impact in Torquay…although that's proving a little more difficult than I had anticipated. But we’re getting there…!

I still have many friends, contacts and work in London, so it doesn’t feel like the end to that story…but it certainly feels like a long commute when I make the trip back.

I’m particularly interested and excited about exploring Torquay’s botanical and geographical diversity and uniqueness – these will play a major role in my projects moving forward…and of course I love our area’s proximity to inspirational areas like Dartmoor.

Tell us about ‘inDISPOSABLE’ - what’s the story behind this photography project and what themes are you exploring?

I had seen a similar project in London using disposable cameras, but wanted to create a project with the uniqueness of Castle Circus and the marginalised communities that exist in this area that are very often misunderstood, horrendously judged and condemned.

I wanted to offer members of this community a chance to share their daily experiences as well as explore their creativity through the lens of the disposable camera. I believe everyone’s voices and experiences should be shared and valued through artistic practice.

The dual exhibition opening at Torre Abbey on January 20 sounds fascinating - what can visitors expect to see and experience?

‘inDISPOSABLE’ has a unique visual language; as well as strikingly honest and confronting photography, the majority of the artworks are presented on OSB board. I have designed and installed an imposing OSB structure that traverses both the green galleries creating a wild juxtaposition with the architecture of the space.

The use of this wood to display the artworks is an intentional one. In public spaces this ubiquitous material is synonymous with boarding up shop doorways, smashed windows and dark alleyways, a cheap material used to obstruct entry. The exhibition attempts to subvert the traditional usage by employing the wood in a highly aesthetic way that is instead encompassing, inviting, chic and celebratory.

The presentation of inDISPOSABLE artworks in Torre Abbey is particularly meaningful given the Abbey's history as a site for housing and feeding those in need. As well as caring for the sick and poor, it was customary for the Abbey to offer one night's free board-and-lodge to travellers.

In acknowledgment of this rich heritage, I have curated a selection of oil paintings from the Abbey’s collection alongside five inDISPOSABLE artists. This anchors the project in the Abbey’s history and creates a unique dialogue with the contemporary social narratives that are explored in the exhibition.

One of the ‘inDISPOSABLE’ artists, JAPPA, also has a solo outdoor exhibition opening at the same time. I first discovered JAPPA’s work walking past him making palm leaf roses on Union Street.

Alongside these roses, were archive images of his land art sculptures. They absolutely blew me away – he has an enormous body of exceptional work that has been captured on camera. The images both document the work, but also act as beautiful artworks in and of themselves (We have made four beautiful and very affordable signed and numbered limited edition prints for sale in the museum shop as well as a handmade zine for the exhibition - everyone should buy…!)

For his exhibition ‘if words were seeds’, JAPPA has created seven new artworks that span the Abbey’s historical outdoor and indoor garden spaces. These new, site-specific works, use only materials foraged in and around the Abbey and are created using leaves, stone, wood, mud, chalk, charcoal and fire. They offer a delicate interplay between natural found materials and the surrounding environment while radically reimagining the visitor's experience of the gardens, creating moments of pause, reflection and meditation.

Working alongside head gardener Ali Marshall, JAPPA has created works that may only exist for a few days. Others that are more robust will exist until the elements and time wash them away: temporarily activating the environments with poetic, ephemeral gestures.

A collection of his archive is also online and readers view them on his Pinterest: justinpardon01

You’re planning to direct and curate the Festival of Torquay in 2027 - what’s your vision for this major public art festival?

My proposal is for an ambitious public arts festival to be held in summer 2027, marking 75 years since the Festival of Britain. The 1951 Festival of Britain was a celebration showcasing British innovation in design, science, and culture to lift post-war morale and was considered a ‘tonic for the nation’.

The Festival of Torquay will mimic this model, breadth and ethos to explore themes more geographically, historically and culturally significant to the Bay such as botany, industry, craft, leisure, design, architecture, and geology.

The event will use the seafront, harbour, town centre, and surrounding areas, presenting a mix of large-scale sculptures, smaller interventions, and exhibitions across cultural venues.

The festival will highlight both local and nationally renowned artists, support local makers, and employ local producers and technicians to nurture a new economy of these vital ‘non-artistic’ professionals that are so needed here to facilitate great art…!

The overall aims are to create a bold new cultural narrative for Torquay, boost civic pride, and attract hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists. The project will also support local employment and provide free access to most events, ensuring inclusivity. I would hope that the festival becomes biennial, giving the residents of Torbay a creative offering that they deserve and can be proud of.

What do you wish people understood about working in the arts, particularly when building creative communities in new places?

This is a really interesting, difficult and personal question.

I was a manager at the Institute of Contemporary Arts for many years, and much of the front of house team were artists, writers, poets, DJs, students etc – so collectively we all had our fingers on the pulse of contemporary culture. There was continuous critical conversation and discourse within this community that was wonderfully nourishing – and away from the ICA people had their own practices and were working on exciting projects. Additionally, the ICA was, and still is a place of radical arts practice, so it was common to be working with incredible emerging and established artists.

It is this culture that I miss enormously in Torquay. That’s not to say that this doesn’t exist here – it’s just been challenging to bring and find that energy and sense of contemporality in the South West.

So perhaps I don’t have much advice on that area yet, but I certainly get a sense of people working together with the desire to make change and develop a strong cultural identity here in the bay.

A bit of fun… which artist, living or dead, would you love to have coffee with and why?

Can I cheat and do three?

Jean Michel Basquiat (not just because he might bring Madonna – I’m sure we could squeeze her in somewhere). I’m obsessed with Basquiat’s work. I’ve not experienced any other artist’s work who naturally and energetically understands composition quite like him. I could never afford his work, but have a lovely screenprint by his early collaborator Al Diaz – together they worked under the street art name SAMO… which is a very close runner-up.

Carrie Mae Weems - I discovered Weems work when I worked as an art dealer – so my experience of it was initially a commercial one. So when she had a major retrospective at the Barbican, I had to visit it. The show hit me in ways I absolutely did not expect – and found myself in floods of tears experiencing her work. Weem’s work has historically focussed on a commentary of the afro American experience (most famously in her Kitchen Table Series) but more recently she considered her work to more explore the human experience and social inclusion more broadly…and if Weems couldn’t make it, I’d invite my other favourite photographer, Nan Goldin.

Tracey Emin - Tracey is my partner’s favourite artist – we have a very small etching of hers at home and it’s our pride and joy. I met Tracey when she was a little… wilder… but she has since changed her life and has a tenacious ambition making new work as well as supporting emerging artists via her school in Margate. She comes from an incredibly working-class background and manages to avoid the traps of pretentiousness that come with success in the contemporary and commercial art world – she’s very down to earth and doesn't mince her words – I think she'd be fun to have at the table.

Where can people discover you?

You know what, I’m taking a little break from social media but I mostly use Instagram where you can find me @jamielewishadley

‘inDISPOSABLE’ and ‘if words were seeds’ run until March 15. Full details can be found here: https://www.torre-abbey.org.uk/whats-on/

What strikes me most about Jamie’s work is the intentionality behind every choice. The OSB board isn’t just a display surface – it’s a reclamation of material associated with exclusion, transformed into something inviting and celebratory. The pairing of contemporary photography with Torre Abbey's historical oil paintings creates a dialogue across centuries, anchoring urgent social narratives in the Abbey’s tradition of caring for those in need.

The discovery of JAPPA’s work feels like kismet – spotting palm leaf roses on Union Street and recognizing the extraordinary talent behind them. His ephemeral land art, created from foraged materials and destined to be reclaimed by the elements, offers a beautiful counterpoint to the permanence of photography in ‘inDISPOSABLE’.

Jamie’s vision for the Festival of Torquay in 2027 is exactly the kind of ambitious thinking our Bay needs. Drawing inspiration from the 1951 Festival of Britain while celebrating our unique botanical, geological, and cultural heritage could position Torquay as a serious cultural destination. The commitment to free access and supporting local creative professionals shows a deep understanding of how to build sustainable creative communities.

Don’t miss the dual exhibition at Torre Abbey, The Kings Drive, Torquay, TQ2 5JE from January 20 (opening night) to March 15. This is the kind of contemporary art practice that challenges us, includes voices often unheard and reimagines what’s possible for our creative landscape.

If you’d like to be featured in our artist spotlight series or know of local creative projects we should cover, drop me a line athannah@print2wall.co.uk. At Print2Wall, we offer museum-quality fine art printing and bespoke framing services to help artists and photographers bring their vision to life – visit us at www.print2wall.co.uk