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Bletting the Mother Beast: A Solo Exhibition by Mercedes Lucy

We are delighted to announce that this summer, Goodnestone Park will host “Bletting the Mother Beast”—a deeply personal and evocative solo exhibition by Margate-based artist Mercedes Lucy. Opening with a Private View on 7th June from 3–6pm, the exhibition will be on display through 31st July 2025 in the serene and storied grounds of our estate in Canterbury, Kent.

Taking inspiration from the process of bletting—when fruit softens and sweetens only after it begins to break down—Mercedes Lucy offers a body of work that transforms grief, motherhood, and memory into tactile, arresting forms. The exhibition spans ceramics, textiles, and sound, weaving together personal and collective narratives of loss and quiet renewal.

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The exhibition marks a significant return for Lucy, her first solo show since 2023, and presents a deeply personal reflection on grief, transformation, and the subtle power of emotional softening. Drawing inspiration from bletting—the natural process where fruit ripens and becomes edible only after beginning to decay—Lucy uses this metaphor to explore how loss reshapes us with time and tenderness.

Working in ceramics, textiles, and sound, Lucy’s practice is rooted in the emotional and the elemental. Her hand-built clay vessels and sculptures carry both physical and symbolic weight—formed, fractured, and held. Some works speak directly to the bodily and domestic; others offer space for abstraction and stillness. The result is a collection that balances fragility with resilience, chaos with calm.

“This show is about fully immersing the viewer in my world,” Lucy says. “Each piece is a story, formed in moments of stillness and upheaval.”

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Goodnestone Park offers an ideal setting for this exhibition. The layered, living quality of the gardens mirrors the contradictions that Lucy’s work holds—grief and growth, structure and wildness, intimacy and openness. As a Kent native, Lucy’s connection to the landscape adds further depth and resonance to the presentation.

“To show this work in such a layered, sensory place feels perfect,” she shares. “The garden holds the same contradictions I try to reflect.”

Mercedes Lucy is a studio holder at Tracey Emin’s TKE Studios in Margate and has exhibited with Saatchi Gallery, Matt’s Gallery, and Flowers Gallery. “Bletting the Mother Beast” is her most immersive and emotionally charged exhibition to date, inviting visitors to engage with loss not as an end—but as a space of renewal and quiet transformation.

We invite you to join us for this special exhibition and experience the dialogue between art, memory, and place at Goodnestone Park.