The Bower is Louisa Bailey and Joyce Cronin.
Joyce is an experienced gallery manager and organiser of exhibitions and events, having worked over the last 15 years with galleries and art organisations such as Matt’s Gallery, Studio Voltaire and Afterall.
Louisa runs Luminous Books and Publication Studio, London. As Luminous Books, she has been hosted by Unit/Pitt Projects (Vancouver), University of the Arts London, The London Centre for Book Arts and Raven Row. Publication Studio helps artists and writers reach a broad public through a network of international studios, printing books on demand using affordable materials.
We began collaborating in 2013 and 2014 consecutively, when Louisa brought her curated bookshop Luminous Books to Afterall at Central Saint Martins, where Joyce organised exhibitions of artworks by Rodney Graham (2013) and Martha Rosler (2014). In 2015, we set up Finishing Touch, a pop-up project based in a former barber shop where we programmed a series of events, screenings and performances; creating gatherings to share and exchange knowledge. In 2016 we won the Artquest Workweek prize during the Art Licks weekend for bringing ‘The Little Book of Answers’ by Laura Malacart and a recital of Monica Ross’s ‘Act of Memory’ to Brixton Market.