We are delighted to announce that Small Gods, a solo show by Cape Town-based artist Oliver Barnett will open at Parkside Architectural Tiles, Oxfordshire, on Saturday 19 September and will run until 10 October.

Presented by Damian Nixon and Flora Fairbairn, this solo exhibition brings Barnett back to his birthplace, Oxfordshire, to showcase a new series of large-scale photographs communicating the power and mystery of our natural world.

Barnett’s photographs depict alternative worlds: mystical forests and spiritual landscapes that Barnett has discovered during his many explorations of the wilds of South Africa, as well as in the beech forests of Devon. In Small Gods, Barnett’s lens leads the viewer on a metaphysical journey that throws up questions about our ongoing, symbiotic relationship with nature.

The natural world is presented both as an environment that contains us and an organism of which we are an integral part. A pervasive animism that runs through the work is both a revival of an ancient respect for nature’s power, and a reminder of our present responsibilities in an unprece- dented era of human impact on the earth’s wild habitats.

Like so many events and exhibitions up and down the country, Oliver Barnett: Small Gods, originally due to open in April, was postponed due to COVID-19. In the intervening period, the natural world seemed more visible as human activity retreated. As we emerge from lockdown and return to our daily lives, Barnett’s work reminds us again to look deeper into the delicate beauty and wonder of the surrounding landscape.