Proposal – Dover Prize 2025
This project marks a pivotal evolution in my practice. I propose to develop a new body of work that pushes my sculptural and photographic language into larger-scale, immersive installations. I will expand existing motifs — fragmented bodies, symbolic creatures, and mythic references — through new fabrication techniques and interdisciplinary processes.
The bursary would support:
• The scaling-up of small sculptural studies using CNC foam milling, allowing me to create monumental forms coated in enamel and industrial finishes.
• The development of new Jacquard weavings based on photographic stills, translating intimate gestures into large-scale textile surfaces.
• Continuing my 3D scanning and printing work, producing a new installation of digitally fabricated birds derived from preserved specimens.
• Studio time, materials, and specialist support in these areas of production.
• Travel and research visits to deepen contextual strands related to myth, body, and materiality.
The installation will combine these sculptural and textile works with staged photographs, atmospheric sound, and symbolic materials — creating an emotionally resonant, sensory space that invites the viewer into a confrontation with beauty, fragility, and transformation.
This bursary comes at a crucial time. Having recently completed an MRes at the Royal College of Art, my work has shifted toward deeper material exploration and more ambitious, interdisciplinary forms. I am now ready to consolidate this growth and begin shaping the kind of large-scale work I’ve long envisioned — but lacked the resources and technical access to realise.
The Dover Prize would allow me to take significant creative risks while building a coherent new body of work that moves confidently across sculpture, image, and installation. It would also support meaningful public engagement, allowing local audiences to experience an expanded version of my practice that prioritises atmosphere, symbolism, and emotional resonance over traditional formats.
Ultimately, I see this as a chance to realise my most ambitious and fully integrated work to date — a culmination of the past decade’s themes and materials, now brought together with new clarity, scale, and vision.
My work offers an emotionally resonant and immersive experience that invites slow, sensory engagement with themes of transformation, identity, and myth. I believe this approach could bring something distinct to the creative arts in Darlington — offering local audiences an opportunity to encounter contemporary art that is both conceptually rich and deeply accessible on a human, symbolic level.
Rather than instructional workshops, I would share my practice through immersive public encounters — including participatory installation, open studio sessions, and intimate artist talks or screenings. These would be carefully shaped to reflect the poetic and psychological qualities of my work, while remaining welcoming to a broad audience.
My approach is shaped by a sensitivity to emotional and sensory nuance — creating quiet, reflective spaces that honour different ways of seeing and feeling. This kind of artistic offering, rooted in atmosphere, storytelling, and symbolic materials, has the potential to resonate with diverse audiences and expand ideas of what creative engagement can be.
By bringing this work to Darlington, I hope to contribute to a wider conversation about vulnerability, beauty, and transformation — while strengthening the town’s profile as a place that supports experimental, emotionally intelligent art.
y practice explores transformation at the threshold of the body — where identity flickers between presence and absence, instinct and control. Working across painting, sculpture, photography, and textile processes, I create psychologically charged environments that explore themes of beauty, vulnerability, desire, and myth. My work often emerges from fragments — of memory, narrative, and symbolic form — and seeks to hold contradictory states of being: rupture and repair, softness and monument, longing and undoing. Sculpturally, I work with materials such as porcelain, bronze, and more recently 3D-printed elements and fabrications derived from preserved bird specimens. I am currently developing methods for scaling up small hand-formed sculptures through CNC foam milling and industrial coatings — marking a new phase of ambition in my practice. These objects often exist as part of immersive installations that invite quiet contemplation, sensory engagement, and symbolic reading. Photography and staged imagery run parallel to this sculptural work. I construct emotional, mythic, or intimate scenes that function as stills from an unseen film. These photographs are sometimes translated into large-scale Jacquard weavings — creating a tactile surface where image and memory blur. Painting remains central to my practice. The painted surface allows for intuitive, dreamlike layering of figure, animal, and gesture. These compositions often speak to fragmented psyches, spectral presences, and altered states of consciousness. Recent exhibitions include Fragments of the Future (Hangar Gallery, London, 2024); William Blake and Conflict Beyond Borders and Forms (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 2024); Fearful Symmetry (solo, AMP Gallery, London, 2022); Gentle & Violent (solo, Nunnery Gallery, London, 2020); and What is Eros? (MoMus Experimental Centre, Thessaloniki, 2019). I was recently awarded the Soho Fellowship (2022) and a DYCP Grant from Arts Council England. Through this practice, I aim to create immersive and emotionally intelligent experiences that reflect on beauty, identity, and the messiness of being human — inviting audiences into a space of reflection, feeling, and transformation
Yes, I hold a BA in Fine Art, an MA in Fine Art, and an MRes in Fine Art & Humanities
Yes, I have received professional grants including:
• Arts Council England – Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) Grant (2021)
• Arts Council England – Project Grant (2020)
• Crawford Open Artist Award (€5,000), selected by Frances Morris & Enrique Juncosa
While I do not currently run a formal artist-led studio, I have been actively involved in self-initiated opportunities that reflect my commitment to building professional platforms beyond institutional contexts.
During my time at the Royal College of Art, I facilitated a regular public screening series focused on contemporary art and documentary. I also managed the MRes RCA Instagram account, curating artist features and events to engage a wider audience.
My solo exhibition Gentle & Violent (2020) was supported by Arts Council England and developed independently in close collaboration with the Nunnery Gallery.
These experiences have shaped my interest in creating environments where artistic dialogue and emotional resonance can unfold outside of traditional frameworks.
Yes. In 2020, I was awarded an Arts Council England Project Grant to develop and present my solo exhibition Gentle & Violent at the Nunnery Gallery, London — a publicly funded space run by Bow Arts Trust. This involved the production of new sculptural and photographic works, as well as artist talks and community engagement.
My work was also recently exhibited at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge as part of William Blake and Conflict Beyond Borders and Forms (2024) — a major public institution.
In addition, I have participated in publicly funded initiatives including a research residency at LADA (Live Art Development Agency), further supporting the development and dissemination of my practice.
Yes. My work has been acquired by the following public collections:
• University College Cork Collection (Ireland) — My work was selected for acquisition as part of the My Space and I exhibition at the West Cork Art Centre. This was supported by the Glucksman Gallery and U.C.C. Purchase Prize.
• Cork Institute of Technology Collection (Ireland) — I received the Arts Festival Prize, and my work was selected for inclusion in their permanent collection.
In addition to these public collections, my work is also held in private and corporate collections, including the Soho House Permanent Collection.
These acquisitions have been important milestones in the development of my practice, helping to situate my work within institutional contexts and affirm its resonance across different audiences.
Yes. My work has been featured across a range of platforms, particularly in relation to exhibitions, awards, and artist-led programming.
In 2024, I was a panel speaker for the Soho House Artists’ Discussion, which was shared via their public channels and online platforms. I also gave an artist talk at the Royal College of Art on Neurodivergence and Artists in 2023, which was featured through the RCA’s digital communications and Instagram.
Earlier in my career, my degree show in Ireland was reviewed in the Irish Examiner, and my work was positively highlighted. Following this, I received the Crawford Open Artist Award, selected by Frances Morris and Enrique Juncosa. This award and exhibition were featured in various Irish publications and online platforms, including local press and national arts coverage.
As my practice continues to develop toward larger-scale, immersive installations, I am actively seeking broader critical engagement and visibility — something the Dover Prize would directly support through its public platform and community reach.
No, I am not currently represented by a gallery.
Securing gallery representation is an important long-term goal within my practice. I am actively seeking the right context for this — one that aligns with the interdisciplinary nature of my work and supports its evolution across sculpture, photography, textile, and installation.
To date, I have independently developed and exhibited work in respected spaces such as the Fitzwilliam Museum, AMP Gallery, and the Nunnery Gallery, with support from Arts Council England and the Soho Fellowship Programme. These experiences have enabled me to build a strong, self-directed practice — but I now feel ready to take this next step in my professional trajectory.
The Dover Prize represents a significant opportunity to advance my visibility, scale of production, and institutional presence. It would allow me to develop a cohesive body of work at a new level of ambition, helping to position my practice for meaningful conversations with future gallery partners.
Yes. I have participated in several recognised residencies that have played a key role in the development of my practice.
In 2022, I was selected for the Soho Fellowship Programme, which culminated in the acquisition of a piece for the Soho House Permanent Collection.
In 2020, I took part in a research-based residency with LADA (Live Art Development Agency),
This experience deepened my engagement with themes of transformation, sensory experience, and ritual in relation to performance and installation.
Both residencies offered not only material support but also critical frameworks, allowing me to reflect on and evolve my multidisciplinary practice within creative and research-driven environments.
Email: hello@michaelgurhy.com
Address: 408 Ryan House, 12 Smeed Road, London, United Kingdom, E3 2PE, GB
Local Authority: Tower Hamlets
