Winner of the Brookfield Properties Craft Award 2026

Time of event

Open to public: Mon - Fri | 9 AM - 5 PM

Exhibition

Darcey Fleming presents (Extra)ordinary, her first solo exhibition and a newly commissioned installation for the reception at 99 Bishopsgate.

Across the walls of 99 Bishopsgate, Fleming’s weavings cascade in a series of vibrant sculptural works. Each piece is a wall-hung weave made from discarded baling twine - a humble agricultural material that Fleming transforms through a distinctive, self-developed process into vivid, tactile forms. Uniform in scale and rhythmically spaced across the walls, the sculptures create a flowing visual environment throughout the reception.

Within each work, tightly controlled woven structures give way to loose strands that fall freely from the surface. This movement between structure and release is central to Fleming’s practice. The tension between the two, intensified by her bold use of colour, creates a dynamic installation that brings unexpected energy to the corporate architecture of the space.

Fleming’s practice spans sculpture, performance, photography and wearable sculpture. Often working with the physical scale and weight of her pieces against her own body, the artist approaches making as both a sculptural and performative act. A former professional athlete, the physical demands of weaving and carrying her large works into the landscape, form an integral part of her cross-disciplinary practice.

At the heart of Fleming’s work is baling twine: brightly coloured plastic cord used by farmers to bind hay and straw bales, which is often discarded or burned after use. Fleming collects this twine and reimagines it through weaving, transforming a material associated with utility and waste into striking sculptural forms.

Growing up in the countryside first drew Fleming to the material. She recalls walking through bleak rural landscapes and noticing flashes of colour where discarded twine had caught on hedgerows and barbed wire. These fragments became the starting point for her practice. Through obsessive collecting and experimentation, she developed her own weaving technique using old frames.

Although the finished works appear expressive and free, they are underpinned by an intensely structured lattice on their reverse. As Fleming explains:

“Experimentation within a structure allows me and my work to be free.”

The making process itself is physically demanding and repetitive, requiring sustained labour and endurance. Over time, this repetition produces the dense, resilient surfaces that define her sculptures.

Fleming’s works often function as coverings or skins. In earlier pieces she wrapped and concealed her own body within woven structures, masking the form beneath and allowing the material to dominate. This interest in transformation continues across her practice, where everyday objects, bodies and spaces become altered through layers of twine.

Landscape also plays an important role in Fleming’s work. She frequently takes her sculptures back into rural environments similar to those where the material was originally found. There, she performs with and photographs the works in remote landscapes, capturing fleeting interactions between body, sculpture and place. For Fleming, these photographs and videos are not simply documentation but part of the artwork itself.

Through these shifting contexts – gallery, landscape and body – Fleming’s sculptures move between disciplines, resisting easy categorisation. s the artist notes:

“I am reluctant to label myself and my practice. I like that my work travels across industries and locations, crossing the barriers between the arts while simultaneously rejecting them.”

About Darcey Fleming

Darcey Fleming is an artist working across sculpture, photography, video, and performance. The body is often present or implied within her work, with traditional techniques and the use of discarded or humble materials central to her practice. Fleming’s work balances an obsessive drive to make with moments of resistance, humour, and celebration.

She has exhibited widely in London and internationally, including at Saatchi Gallery, The Royal Academy of Arts, MK Gallery, and Design Museum x Shenzhen Culture Square in China. Her work is held in collections including Selfridges and Tim Marlow OBE, and she has been commissioned by Soho House, Porsche, The Royal Society of Sculptors, W Magazine, Saatchi Gallery, and the Pirelli Calendar. Most recently, she was commissioned by Kate Bryan to create the largest work in the Soho Farmhouse art collection.

Fleming’s work has appeared in publications including W Magazine, Luncheon, Acne Papers, Vogue Scandinavia, Vogue Portugal, Harper’s Bazaar, Plaster, EXIT Magazine (cover), and i-D. Alongside her practice, she holds a degree in Social Sciences from UCL and is currently completing an MSc at the London School of Economics.