Image: Firstsite, Colchester
Firstsite in Colchester will present ‘Simon Carter: From the Landscape’, an immersive exhibition in which the Frinton-based artist will paint directly onto the gallery walls and reshape the building’s interior with new structures inspired by the Essex coast. The exhibition opens to the public on 19 September 2026 and continues until 17 January 2027.
Described by Firstsite as Carter’s biggest exhibition yet, the project will turn the institution’s galleries into a hand-painted landscape that visitors can walk through. Rather than encountering the paintings as separate works on conventional walls, visitors will move within an environment created through Carter’s direct response to Firstsite’s architecture.
The installation will include new ‘groyne’ walls, referencing the coastal structures used along the Essex shoreline. According to Firstsite, these interventions will alter the layout of the galleries and establish multiple entrances, changing viewpoints and new routes through the exhibition. The resulting experience is intended to encourage visitors to move, pause and revisit the work from different positions.
The exhibition draws on Carter’s more than 40-year relationship with the landscape around him. Firstsite says that the artist has walked, drawn and painted the Essex coast and countryside throughout this period. ‘From the Landscape’ brings that sustained engagement with the region together in a presentation that asks visitors to consider painting through the relationship between image, architecture and physical movement.
Firstsite’s exhibition programme is based at its building on Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, where the organisation also presents cinema, workshops, talks and community activities. Its exhibitions are listed as free to visitors. The gallery’s current programme includes presentations by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Arpita Shah and Duncan Grant, alongside Carter’s upcoming project.
An opening celebration for ‘Simon Carter: From the Landscape’ will take place at Firstsite on Friday 18 September from 6pm to 10pm, the evening before the exhibition’s public run begins. The event is free, open to everyone and will include access to the new installation; Firstsite says donations are encouraged to help it keep exhibitions free. The exhibition has been supported by the Firstsite Collectors’ Group and Trevor Fenwick.
