Issie Martin: Futile Acts

Futile Acts is a solo exhibition by artist Issie Martin, exploring our relationship to water, our bodies, and the limits of control in the face of climate crisis. Through moving image, drawing, and print, Issie reflects on the futility of trying to hold back rising tides.

Using materials gathered along the East Kent shoreline—chalk, seaweed, salt—Issie constructs sculptural tools and site-specific performances that test the boundary between body and landscape. These actions are documented through a series of short films and prints that capture poetic, impossible gestures: mopping the sea, tracing coastlines by hand, attempting to contain water in dissolvable vessels.

The gestures are knowingly absurd, echoing ancient stories of control and repetition—King Canute’s command of the tides, Sisyphus and the rolling boulder. Futile Acts reflects on climate grief, the fragility of our bodies, and the push-pull between human effort and natural force. Rooted in hydrofeminist thinking, Issie's work holds space for the porous relationships between land, sea, and self.

About the artist:
Issie Martin’s practice investigates her relationship to bodies of water and the uncertainty of eroding coastlines in a time of ecological crisis, specifically her home on the East Kent coast. Working across film, drawing, etching, and sculpture, she explores place, futility, and the leaky boundaries of the body. Martin graduated from Loughborough University in 2025 and is currently studying MA Art & Ecology at Goldsmiths, University of London. Recent exhibitions and publications include Conflicted at Phoenix Cinema (Leicester), CMYK at Tangent Gallery (Loughborough), and features in publications by a-n, No Jobs in the Arts, and Ambient Receiver.

About the opening event:
Futile Acts launches as part of Lboro Lates, an evening of free exhibitions, performances, and creative experiences across the town. Taking place from 6–9pm on Friday 21 November, the event invites residents and visitors alike to explore Loughborough’s thriving cultural scene — all within walking distance.