A collective of artists based at the Old Fire Station in Port Sunlight are exhibiting their creative works at the prestigious Venice Biennale 2026.
The Venice Biennale is a major international contemporary art exhibition showcasing talented artists from all around the world.
The exhibition, titled ‘Alchemy’, features ‘Guardians of Two Shores’, two lion sculptures representing a bridge between Venice and the Wirral.
Printmaker and photographer of the collective Miss Green said: “It was basically about how many ideas can you put into one thing.
“How much meaning and how many different artists and their vision and their ideas can you place into two sculptures.
“They very much represent us as a collective”.
Named after the new lions at Chester Zoo, Nilay and Shanti, the pieces were worked on by all artists and will be the focal point of the exhibition display.
Creators Emma Rodgers, Johnny Vegas, Peter Hayes, Sophie Anna Green, Max Eugini, Simone Schofield and Lonn Landis are also showcasing their own works linked by use of local materials and nature, tying to Venice and the Wirral’s shared history with maritime estuaries.
The artists currently reside in the Old Fire Station in Port Sunlight taken over by current honorary fellow of LJMU and international sculptor Emma Rodgers at the end of 2024.
She said about the space: “We use this for exhibitions, group workshops, and sometimes just for getting together and putting together ideas.
“This is where a lot of the ideas happen”.
The exhibition will be displayed in Venice from May to the end of November 2026 before returning home to the UK.
