Further Information:
Charlotte Warne Thomas is a London-based artist, lecturer, parent, and advocate for fair pay and conditions for artists. Her work investigates the relationships between labour, work, and care to disrupt conventional perceptions of value through a feminist lens.
Through her practice, she is particularly interested in forms of invisible labour: both the unpaid familial care carried out by women (and parents more broadly), and the work of women artists whose contributions continue to be overlooked and undervalued in a market-oriented art world. Her work spans photography, performance, installation, (photo)montage, AV, and text, and seeks to question the hierarchies of value that shape contemporary culture.
She is currently completing a practice-based PhD at Kingston University and is co-founder of Peer Sessions, a nomadic critique group for artists. She teaches Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts and has a studio in Deptford, South East London where she is part of the thriving artist community. Her published writing focusses on research into the substantial inequalities inherent in the art world, and includes articles for Art Review, DACS, and Artquest, plus the 'Structurally F*cked' report by Industria (published 2023 by a-n) for which she was consultant editor. She is a PhD candidate at Kingston University, and a trained mentor and certified Powered by Diversity Ambassador.
She graduated from Goldsmiths MFA in 2009, and has exhibited nationally and internationally including Deptford X; APT Gallery, David Roberts Art Foundation, ASC Gallery, Chelsea Space (all London, UK); Woodend Gallery (Scarborough); RBSA Gallery (Birmingham); Focal Point (Southend-on-Sea), Phoenix (Brighton); Fundación Santander (Madrid, Spain); Studio X (Mumbai, India); Artplay (Moscow, Russia); Frans Masareel Centrum (Kasterlee, Belgium).
In 2025 her work has been selected for the RBSA Photography Prize 2025 exhibition, Exeter Contemporary Open and for the exhibition This is Essential Work.
In this talk, Charlotte will present an overview of her practice, with a particular focus on her recent solo show M O T H E R C A R E, which explored the emotional labour of mothering and the impossible expectations of modern motherhood.
Parent Accessible Event
Children of any age are welcome too and are welcome to be themselves and hold equal status in the space. Please bring the things that make them comfortable – snacks (nut free), toys, blankets etc. There will be a buggy park and baby change in the space. The space will have chairs, floor mats and cushions and an offering of early years toys. Please feel free to breast, chest, bottle or haribo feed your children anywhere in the building.
If cost is a barrier to attending please get in touch for a fully funded ticket.
Hosted by Lizzy Humber for The Daylight Collective
Supported by M/Others on the Mic, Exeter Library and The National Lottery Community Fund
In Collaboration with Exeter Contemporary Open
12 Sept - 01 Nov 2025, Exeter Phoenix FREE ENTRY
Exeter Contemporary Open is an annual open submission exhibition hosted by Exeter Phoenix, which aims to provide an important national platform for contemporary visual art with an emphasis on supporting emerging talent alongside more established artists. The 2025 exhibition features fourteen artists who were selected from hundreds of entries by a panel of artworld professionals who, although not selecting to a particular theme, were looking for the most exciting new work that might reflect current themes and concerns in contemporary art practice.
