Join us for a Drawing Session with Curtis Holder & DMAC at Trinity Buoy Wharf on Saturday 18 October! This is an in-person drawing session, where you'll get the chance to draw DMAC, dancer and creative, and the model for Curtis Holder's drawing Echoes of Eshu II, with Curtis as part of the Daily Drawing Programme for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2025 exhibition.
"Drawing has always been my way of mapping the emotional landscape between myself and my subjects. It is a process shaped by presence, memory, and ongoing dialogue. Echoes of Eshu II came from experimenting with a new durational approach to portraiture, an extended collaboration with dancer and creative, DMAC. Over several months of shared time, conversation and trust, we produced a series of works that deepened my exploration of drawing as an act of co-creation. This second drawing in the series shows DMAC mid-undress, his upper torso exposed as he pulls off his shirt, with layered echoes of his body starting to unbuckle his jeans. It embodies conversations we had about revealing yourself as a Black gay man and navigating the complex realities of colourism, masculinity, and the impulse to suppress femininity. The drawing is created through repeated observation and intuitive mark-making, capturing not only DMAC’s form and movement but also the emotional tension beneath. While part of a larger sequence, Echoes of Eshu II stands alone as a moment of transition, a visual record of DMAC beginning to strip back layers of identity and of me learning to see him with care and respect."
Curtis Holder (b.1968 Leicester, UK) studied BA (Hons) Graphic Design at Kingston University (1988–91) and PGDip Character Animation at Central Saint Martin’s, UAL (2004–05). Solo exhibitions include: Portraits of Brotherhood, RBSA Gallery, Birmingham (2025); Silent Echoes, Spoken Truths, Leeds Art Gallery (2024–25); Curtis Holder: Drawing Carlos Acosta, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (2024–25); Portraits of Brotherhood, Guildford House Gallery, Guildford (2024); The Makers: Portraits from Backstage, National Theatre, London (2023). Group exhibitions include: Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2025); Drawing (Paper) Show, Bridewell Studios & Gallery, Liverpool (2025, 2023); Fragile, The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London (2024); Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022, London & UK Tour (2022-23). Recent awards include: Yaddo residency, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA (2025); John Ruskin Prize (2024); President’s Award, Society of Graphic Fine Art (2024); The Tom Coates Memorial Prize, The Pastel Society (2024); Guildford House Open (2023); Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year (2020). He lives and works in London in the UK.
Please bring pencils, sketchbooks and paper to this practical Drawing Session. The Drawing Session will take place in the exhibition in the Buoy Store at Trinity Buoy Wharf.
#TBWDP25 #DailyDrawing
Image: Curtis Holder, courtesy of the artist; Echoes of Eshu II, 2024, coloured pencil on paper, 150 x 121cm
