Meet the artists taking part in this years open call exhibition, Wish You Were Here..


OPEN OPEN 2025 Exhibition: Wish You Were Here will be on display at The Chapel Gallery from Thursday 3 July until Saturday 26 July. The gallery is free to visit, and will be open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 11am - 4pm. 


Simon Peter Green  

Still Here, Somehow


Archival Pigment on Hahnemühle Bamboo, 80 x 64 cm


This photograph is part of a project exploring memory, place, and the meaning of imprisonment. The man pictured was recently released from HM Prison Erlestoke, where the wings are named after Wiltshire landmarks—Imber among them.


By mapping the Imber wing to its real-world location, I seek to reconnect these borrowed names to their origins. In doing so, the work reflects on how places are repurposed, how identities are shaped by confinement, and what is lost when meaning is severed from memory.

                                                                                                     

£200

Ref: 1

I am a photographer focused on representation, social documentary, environmental portraiture, and cultural storytelling.


I hold a First-Class BA (Hons) in Photography from Coventry University (2020) and an MFA with Distinction from the University for the Creative Arts (2022).


Grounded in ethics, collaboration, and community engagement, my work has been widely exhibited across the UK and Europe, with features in The Guardian, Daily Mirror, BBC, and independent outlets.


simonpetergreen.com   |   @simonpetergreen    

Julia Keenan   

                                                       

The Stars Reflect in the Reservoirs

Oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm 


This work is exploring idealised memories of childhood, set against a turbulent background of complications and chaos. The title is taken from a lyric I heard while working on the piece.


£600

Ref: 2

Julia Keenan is a visual artist, her expanded practice encompasses sculpture, assemblage, film, and painting. She was born in Fiji and is now based in Surrey. Studying at The Cambridge School of Art and The University for the Creative Arts graduating in 2015. Representing them in the C.V.A.N ‘Platform’ programme at ASPEX Gallery. Her first solo show ‘Vermilion Hue’ developed and shown at the invitation of the Cultural Programme Curator at The James Hockey Gallery, funded by the Recent Graduate Bursary award.


Her residency with the Whipple Museum in Cambridge ‘Strange Chimera’ shown in the museum as part of Cambridge University’s Science Festival programme, funded by Cambridge University Museums. She was nominated to submit a proposal for the first Jerwood ‘Survey’ show. Publications include The British Museums Medals Project.


 An associate of ASPEX Gallery in Portsmouth and the recipient of two residency opportunities, an active participant in the Laboratory of Dissent at Winchester School of Art, funded by Arts Council England. Highlights from 2022 include a site-specific group show responding to the collection within Jane Austin’s House Chawton and selected work shown at Tate Modern’s ‘Surrealism Everyday’ @Tate Lates. Her film ‘Glass Kawaii’ 1:13 has been selected and screened at The Shanghai Museum of Glass Spring 2023.

She has shown with Leyden Gallery London and has work held in private collections.


https://juliakeenan5.wixsite.com/website

https://linktr.ee/juliakeenan

@juliakeenanartist

Wakrot Chinshaka                                                    

Blood Stained Child


Digital print on canvas, 60 x 60 cm 


The Blood-Stained Child is a limited digital art series inspired by past and present turbulent events. This series reflects the crises and unrest I have witnessed, marked by significant bloodshed. The red signature in each piece symbolizes the lives lost due to ethnic and religious conflicts and ongoing terrorism, particularly in Northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt, where my hometown Jos, Plateau State, is located. As a designer, I believe in the power of art to advocate for social justice and drive meaningful change. Through this series, I aim to highlight the urgent need for peace and unity and to inspire action towards ending violence and fostering understanding in our communities.


£700

Ref: 3

As a multidisciplinary artist and designer, my practice is rooted in the act of remembrance—of people, places, and stories that risk being forgotten. Drawing from African visual culture, I explore identity, heritage, and healing through a lens shaped by my personal experiences—growing up between worlds, navigating faith and doubt, and living with type 1 diabetes. These layered realities fuel my creative inquiry, as I use art to question systems, challenge narratives, and reclaim silenced histories.


My work spans photography, digital design, textiles, and performance—each medium serving as a vessel for memory and storytelling. I often incorporate symbolism, archival textures, and participatory methods to create spaces where personal memory meets collective struggle. In a stitched mouth, a reimagined pattern, or a digital bell crafted from piano parts, I seek to evoke both loss and hope, holding space for what has been and what could be.


Through my practice, I invite audiences to reflect, question, and connect. My work is not just an act of creation—it is a call to remember: to honour what came before, to confront the present, and to imagine new futures. At the heart of it all is a belief in the transformative power of art to cultivate empathy, resilience, and a sense of belonging.


wakrotchinshaka.com/art

Eve Kemp-Gee                                                       

I wish I was still there


Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40 cm


Painted while in Pembrokeshire.



£250

Ref: 4

After many years in accountancy I know do what I always wanted to do Paint. I paint what I love most the sea, countryside and flora.

Julie Gayle Balliu                                                     

Nostalgia I


Watercolour, pen, ink, 29.5 x 42 cm


In remembrance of my grandparents, whom I spent my early years with and then continued to visit on summer holidays, staying at their home by the sea in Sussex. Both creative, my nan was the crafter and my grandad, 'Pappy', was the artist. Long summers with them involved creativity every day, homebaking, visiting galleries and museums and returning home to a house filled with love, nostalgia and laughter, especially the kitchen. Cupboards filled with crockery, heaving shelves filled high with various plates, egg cups, pre war wedding gift kitchenalia implements, pinnies and aprons, linen table cloths and tea towels smelling of lavender or rosehip. The inviting pantry was filled with tins of homemade biscuits and scones and a vast array of homemade jams lined up in glass jars.


I loved my grandparents - these images are a recollection in my mind of what I saw as a child.


£300

Ref: 5

Julie Gayle Balliu trained as a Graphic Designer at Croydon School of Art & Design in the late 80's/early 90s, and followed a career as a freelance graphic artist in London before moving into marketing and advertising. After time in France, Cornwall and Albania Julie moved to the Kent coast in 2003, working in project coordination and now resides on the Isle of Wight working as a self employed artist. 



She loves exploring urban areas and the countryside, and recording memories of wandering through towns and villages, gazing at street life and the tranquillity of nature and also painting thoughts and memories of her childhood. These activities provide a creative and critical dimension to her work using a range of media from painting, sketching and printmaking.