Chantal Powell is a British artist whose practice is deeply informed by Jungian psychology, alchemical symbolism, and her personal exploration of the unconscious. With a PhD in psychology, she follows a Jungian art-based research approach, using artistic process to engage with archetypal material and the psyche.
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In her practice, Powell engages with alchemy not merely as a historical or esoteric system but as a living symbolic language — one that speaks to contemporary urgencies around embodiment, trauma, ecological kinship, and the sacred intelligence of matter. Through a feminist lens, she engages with the embodied and vegetal aspects of alchemy, rejecting mind-body dualisms and promoting a regenerative model rooted in nature and transformation. She privileges transformation through processes like decay, fermentation, gestation, and rebirth, proposing that healing and metamorphosis emerge through reconnection with instinct, ritual, and the more-than-human world. It recovers within alchemy a neglected reverence for cyclical time, organic intelligence, and the generative powers of earth and body.
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Powell works across various mediums, including ceramics, glass, textiles, and painting, to express archetypal imagery. Her recent research into 15th- and 16th-century alchemical manuscripts informs her practice and blends with her exploration of mythology and personal inner work..
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Chantal has exhibited at galleries and institutions across the UK and internationally, including The Lightbox Museum, Woking; La Boulangerie, Paris; and Guildhall Art Gallery, London. Her first UK solo institutional exhibition will open at The Levinsky Gallery, University of Plymouth in March 2026.
Chantal is the founder of Hogchester Arts residency program, host of The Red Book Club, and a faculty lecturer at JungAcademy. She also offers talks on archetypal symbolism and psychological alchemy and has co-curated exhibitions focusing on archetypally symbolic art.​​
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Installation view of NightShaking With The Ingram Collection. LightBox Museum Woking.
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b.1977
Lives and works in West Dorset , UK
Current / Upcoming ​​​​​​​​​​
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2025 (July)- Mythic Manifest (curated by Jennifer Smith), London ​
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​2025 (20th July) - Magic in Contemporary Art - Online conversation with Dr Amy Hale and Mary MacGregor Reid. Treadwell Books & The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic
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​2025 (August) - Works From The Prominent Collection of Lady Victoria Beecham (curated by Lee johnson), TWOPLUSTWO, London
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2025 (September) - Lady Victoria Beecham (curated by Lee johnson), Thameside Studio Gallery, London
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2025 (October)- A Goodly Company (curated by Marianne Walker), The Handbag Factory, London
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2025 (October) - The Medium Is The Message, College of Psychic Studies, London
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2025 (December) - An Unquiet Landscape, YSA, Sheffield
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2026 (March) - Solo institutional exhibition TTBC - The Levinsky Gallery, Plymouth
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Solo and Two Person Exhibitions​
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2024 Heart Spell (two person show with Femmy Otten) - Arusha Gallery, London
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2020 Green Seeds from Dark Earth (solo show) – Haarlem Artspace, Wirksworth
2019 The Opening Of The Egg (two person show with Kirsty Whiten) – Arusha Gallery, Edingburgh
2014 Existential Mirage (solo show) – Stand Clear Gallery, Portsmouth
2011 The Fall Of The Majestic Elk (two person show with Dean Melbourne) – Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton
2010 Traces and Testament (solo show) – Westbourne Grove Church Artspace, London
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Selected Group Exhibitions
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2025 - The Land Will Call You Home (curated by Sam Bassett), Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall ​​
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2025 Od Arts Festival 2025: Thinking in Circles, Somerset
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2025 Reverb (curated by Grace Mattingly), Florence Trust, London
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2025 THISS 2025 - The Hide Installation and Sculpture Showcase, Site Festival, Stroud ​
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2025 Sorry About The Mess (curated by Millie Walton), Bow Arts Project Space, London​
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2024​ Mirror of Mysteries: Women Artists and the Surreal Legacy (curated by Huma Kabakci) - La Boulangerie, Paris
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2024 Antigone Revisited (curated by Marcelle Joseph) - Hypha Studios HQ, London
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2024 Sex Magic - (Tate Publishing book Launch. Amy Hale) - Arusha Gallery, London
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2024 Buried, OHSH Projects, Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London​
2023 Songs of Hecate - Pictorum Gallery, London
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2023 Preconscious Landscape (curated by Ainalaiyn Space) – Exposed Arts Projects, London
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2023 A Gothic Midsummer (curated by Anna Souter) - Roman Road, Bruton
2023 Pebble/Shoe - LLE artist led project – Kingsgate Project Space, London
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2022 Between Dog and Wolf (curated by Stephanie Ruth) - Parlour, London
2022 Conjure (co-curated by Chantal Powell) - Arusha Gallery, The Silk Barn, Bruton
2022 Post Totem – OHSH Projects, New Oxford Street, London
2022 CHORUS - Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh
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2021 A Strange Kind of Knowing (curated Olivia Penrose Punnett) – Arusha Gallery, London, and Haarlem Artspace, Wirksworth
2021 Night Shaking with the Ingram Collection (curated by Chantal Powell & Dean Melbourne with The Ingram Collection of British Modern Art) – The Lightbox Museum, Woking
2021 Darkness at Noon (curated by Ruth Calland for Contemporary British Painting) – APT Gallery, London
2021 The Holy Grail – OHSH Projects, New Oxford Street, London
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2019 Backyard Sculpture – (curated by Gall & Gates and Domo Baal) – DomoBaal Gallery, London
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​2018 As The Crow Flies – Bo Lee Gallery, London
2018 The Salamander Devours Its Tail Twice (curated by Ashley Middleton) – Gallery 46, London
2018 Paper Cuts (curated by Kristian Day) - Saatchi Gallery, London
2015 MAKE/CREATE (Griffin Gallery & QEST collaboration) – The Crypt Gallery, London
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2013 Victoriana: The Art Of Revival – The Guildhall Art Gallery (curated by Sonia Solicari. Exhibiting artists included Paula Rego, Mat Collishaw, Grayson Perry, Jack & Dinos Chapman), London
2013 Room Of Wonder – Newcastle Museum and Art Gallery, Staffordshire
2013 Cave – Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2013 Burning Bright (curated by Rebecca Wilson / Saatchi Gallery) – Hyatt Regency, London
2012 Unnatural, Natural History (curated by Coates and Scarry) - Royal West Academy, Bristol
2012 London Calling – Orange County Centre of Contemporary Art Museum, California
2012 Imprint (curated by Francesca Goodwin) – Serpentine Gallery's Centre Of Possible Studies, London
2011 Afternoon Tea At The 54th Venice Biennale – WW Gallery, Venice
2011 FLAGSTOP – South Bay Lexus, Los Angeles
2010 Time – WW Gallery, London, UK, 2010
2009 Travelling Light – WW Gallery, London and toured to 53rd Venice Biennale
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Awards & Residencies
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Artist in Residence Xenia Creative Retreat, North Hampshire- February 2025
Arts Council England DYCP grant, 2023/24
CoverMill Residency, The Netherlands, 2022
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a-n Professional Development Bursary, 2022 & 2019
Mark Tanner Sculpture Award – Shortlisted, 2015
a-n Re:view Bursary, 2013
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Curation​
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Conjure (co-curated with Arusha Gallery) - Arusha Gallery, Silk Barn, Bruton, UK, 2022
Night Shaking with the Ingram Collection (co-curated with Dean Melbourne) - The Lightbox Museum, Woking, UK 2021
Hogchester Arts Summer Exhibition – Hogchester Arts, West Dorset, UK 2019
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Public Commissions
Commissioned by NewcastleGateshead initiative to create outdoor public commission for Saltwell Park, Newcastle Gateshead, UK, 2014 & 2015
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Interactive public installation for Museums at Night commissioned by Guildhall Art Gallery London, UK , 2014
Nightingale's Nest. Site Specific installation for Guildhall Art Gallery, London, UK, 2013
Site Specific Installation for Grade II listed Church building, Hampshire, UK, 2012
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Press
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Alchemy, Art and a Rural Residency - amici editorial, 2024
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​The Treasured Alchemy of Heart Spells - Essay by Amy Hale, 2024
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Ceramics Now (November 2024 magazine edition & profile on website), 2024
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Artist SpotLight Kiln Magazine, 2024
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How Freud’s Legacy in Psychoanalysis Is Still Inspiring Artists Today by Emily Steer for Artsy, 2023
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Lightbox Museum Interview, 2021
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The Global Discussion Interview 2021
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Axisweb Interview 2020​​
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Other Activities
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Faculty lecturer at Jung Archademy, US, 2021 - current day.
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Presenting artist at Freudian Bites Supper Club curated by Huma Kabakci, London, 2025
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Visiting guest speaker - City and Guilds MA course, London, 2025
Founder/ director at Hogchester Arts (contemporary rural arts residency project), Hogchester, Dorset, UK, 2017-current day
Founder and host of the Jungian online book club and speaker program "The Red Book Club", 2020 - current day
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Commissioned art writing for Soho Revue, 2024
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Course organiser and co-presenter "In Praise of Mystery - Artistic Ventures into the Unconscious" with Ann McCoy, 2023
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Course organiser and host- "Techniques For Accessing The Unconscious With Ann McCoy", 2022
Presents illustrated talks and workshops on psychological alchemy from an artist's perspective at various groups and institutions. 2015 - current ​
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In person studio workshops and mentoring 2020 - current
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Education and Professional Development
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PhD. in Social Psychology, Southampton University, UK, 2002
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Ongoing self study into Jungian thinking and alchemy