Rosie Ridgway presents her first solo exhibition at Focal Point Gallery. A multidisciplinary artist and musician, Ridgway’s practice spans sound, performance, sculpture, and costume. Her work reinterprets cultural phenomena to construct alternative realities, often through collaborative and participatory approaches that generate humour and absurdity. At its core, her practice is driven by experimentation, a celebration of difference, and a commitment to accessibility.

Ridgway’s installation situates the audience intimately within the dynamics of a band rehearsal space. The gallery is transformed into a hybrid setting — part studio, part game world — where visitors are invited to select and embody their own band characters. Rooted in the idea of “creative chaos,” the work embraces the unpredictability of bringing together individuals with distinct lives and experiences, all shaped by external forces, and examines how these dynamics influence a group’s ability to function.

Twelve characters — each based on real people Ridgway has collaborated with — form the core of the work. Representing individuals each with complex, meaningful, and deeply human experiences. By selecting a group of five characters to form a band, visitors create unexpected constellations of people, forging unlikely connections and shared narratives.

Blurring the boundaries between player, performer, and audience, the installation encourages active participation, with visitors shaping their experience through movement, interaction, and collective presence. Humour and absurdity — hallmarks of Ridgway’s practice — open up space for experimentation and alternative modes of expression.

At its heart, the exhibition unfolds as a loose quest: a search for new forms of kinship beyond biology or shared history. It gestures toward a collective belonging built through chance, curiosity, and a willingness to step into the unknown.