Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich Present Inflatable Protest Art at Talbot Rice Gallery

Glasgow-based artists Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich have filled Edinburgh's Talbot Rice Gallery with oversized inflatable sculptures and films documenting global participatory processions. Their exhibition 'Searching for a Change of Consciousness' surveys a decade of collaborative work merging industrial history with utopian imagination through celebratory public resistance. Dominating the space is 'Serpent of Capitalism' (2018), a massive red and black fabric snake that has traveled to events like Roskilde music festival. Another key piece, 'Love Cannon' (2005), appears alongside rocket flower sculptures from their ongoing 'Encampment of Eternal Hope' project addressing climate crisis. The show includes 'Llechi A Llafur // Slate or State' (2017), a film documenting a procession in Bethesda, Wales that references the 1900 slate quarry strike against Lord Penrhyn. These inflatable works—easily transportable in suitcases—serve as ceremonial centerpieces in collaborations with radical theater troupes and community groups worldwide. The exhibition runs through 31 May 2025 at the Georgian neoclassical gallery, where the artists' playful aesthetic contrasts with serious engagement with labor history and suppressed narratives. Their practice transforms symbols of power through carnivalesque participation while maintaining remembrance of past sacrifices.