Art / Exhibitions
Spike Island’s twin summer exhibitions feature Tohé Commaret and Nancy Lupo
As Spike Island nears the midway point of their 50th birthday celebrations, upcoming events include the Bristol Artists Book Event (BABE), the inaugural Spike Print Fair and a special Summer Party.
And situated within the generously sized gallery spaces until September 6, there are twin exhibitions from Franco-Chilean filmmaker Tohé Commaret and multidisciplinary artist Nancy Lupo.
Commaret’s Mijitas is the artist’s first exhibition in the UK, and comprises two moving image commissions, both created in 2026.
The name derives from the Latin-American term mi hijita, which translates to ‘my little girl’. Used most often as a term of endearment, it also carries an undeniable undertone of patriarchy and patronisation; an ambiguity that the artist plays with in these short films.
In their different ways, both explore the unifying constraints imposed by feminised labour; namely cleaning (in Rosa) and sex work (in Can you hear me?).
Still from Rosa in Tohé Commaret’s Mijitas – photo: courtesy the artist
“Without ever meeting, or even belonging to the same film, a connection forms between Louna and Rosa”, contend the explanatory notes to the exhibition. “Through their shared image, a common experience emerges that is felt but not explained.”
Central to Lupo’s collection, Several Chickens Later, is her debut novel Meow Meow Real Estate – a magical realist story that follows a woman on the hunt for an apartment. The book will be published and distributed for free to exhibition visitors.
Lupo harnesses a blend of sculpture, video, writing, sound, drawing, painting, performance and architecturally specific installation in her work, and seeks to examine “how collective fantasies and emotions become embedded in form”.
Nancy Lupo, Several Chickens Later – photo: courtesy the artist
The house-hunting quest at the centre of Several Chickens Later concludes in Chelsea, and a Victorian flat. “I wonder what she wears now that she actually has a place”, Lupo considers in the novel.
“I used to be a horse but now I can finally stop running. I wept for days but then once I got inside it was a party. I took a taxi with my two suitcases but everyone already had plans. I wanted to drink champagne and sleep on the floor but ended up going out and small talking about other things.”
To all of us, the artist poses the question: “What is left once projections turn into possession?”
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Tohé Commaret: Mijitas and Nancy Lupo: Several Chickens Later are at Spike Island until September 6, open Wednesday to Sunday 12-5pm. For more information on these exhibitions and the wider programme, visit www.spikeisland.org.uk.
Main photo: Tohé Commaret, ‘ROSA’ film still (2026). Courtesy the artist
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