In our new short series Five Minutes With, we’ve been shining a light on the people who help bring Meadow Arts’ vision to life. From dedicated team members to our brilliant board members, trustees and the artists who we commission, we’re taking a closer look at the individuals who make everything we do possible.

In this episode of Five Minutes With, we’re finding out more about artist and Meadow Arts’ Digital Communication Officer, Tegen Kimbley, who is currently exhibiting in a group show called Nothing Gold Can Stay: Assembly, at The New Art Gallery Walsall in partnership with Multistory and will also be exhibiting as part of this year’s Coventry Biennial.  

It’s been an exciting few years since working with Meadow Arts, every day is different and I don’t think I’d be able to do what I’m doing if it wasn’t for the support I get from the team. I love the flexibility and the encouragement I get from them to take on every opportunity that comes my way. 

Tegen Kimbley

Tegen is a documentary photographer and filmmaker, working for organisations including Ikon Gallery, Coventry Biennial, Midlands Arts Centre, Mead Gallery and Compton Verney, and Multistory. She has been the Meadow Arts Digital Communications Officer since January 2023.

Tegen’s own practice explores manmade environments documenting the people and objects that inhabit them, creating narratives around the everyday and over-looked. Through considered composition, she attempts to generate dialogue around current environmental, social and economic issues, whilst creating a sense of atmosphere and place. Recent group exhibitions include Nothing Gold Can Stay: Assembly, Multistory, New Art Gallery Walsall (2025), Surreal Solihull (2025), PRISM Photography Open 2025, Midlands Arts Centre (2025), Narcissus in Bloom, Ffoto Cymru 2024, Cardiff (2024), CYCLES, The Gap, Birmingham (2024), The Technician Show, The Hyper-Lab, hmv Empire, Coventry (2022), Offsite 9: Wolverhampton Outdoor Market (2022).

Clare: Excitingly, your project, Whispering Reeds, is part of the 5^th Coventry Biennial (3 Oct 2025 – 25 Jan 2026). It’s fantastic to feature in such a prominent exhibition as a young artist. Tell us more about Whispering Reeds…

Tegen: I started Whispering Reeds back in 2014 as part of my final major project, while studying Photography at Stafford College and I’ve always wanted to re-visit it, but the timing never felt quite right. Whispering Reeds is part of a deeply personal body of work about my father and his boat, which we used to spend many years sailing the Norfolk Broads as a family. The work reflects the emotional relationship between a man and his boat, and the trials and tribulations that come with it, connecting closely to Coventry Biennial’s theme this year, Obsessions, Possessions.

Through an existing photographic series and a new film, commissioned by Multistory in partnership with The New Art Gallery Walsall, the work reflects on loss, the loss of youth, the boat, and the freedom that sailing once offered.

It sounds quite depressing reading it aloud, but my father and I had a great time collaborating on the film together, although he didn’t always appreciate the film having no dialogue. Nor does the film show his beloved boat in its entirety – but he’s been an honest critic.

Clare: The theme of the biennial is Obsessions, Possessions. How does your project fit against that topic? Has the work been shown anywhere else?

Tegen: I’m really excited by this year’s theme Obsessions, Possessions, as I think it’s something we can all easily relate to. It examines our desires and impulse to collect, whether that be through a museum collection, artists in their studios, or a personal collection. In my case, my Dad’s obsession with sailing and all the possessions that accompany boats, which, much to my mother’s despair, have become part of our family home, both inside and out!

Whispering Reeds explores the sentimental value we give to objects, understanding how emotional attachment, often linked to trauma or illness, can replace a sense of lost control. As my father suffered a series of strokes nearly 20 years ago now, meaning he couldn’t sail or maintain the boat any longer and has become a reflection of his declining health thus far. But of course he refuses to let it go- tied to it by cherished memories with his family and his burning desire to prove his own father wrong having told him as a kid, “sailing isn’t for people like us”, of course alluding to our working class status. 

I was extremely fortunate to be selected as one of three exhibiting artists for Assembly this year, which is Multistory’s annual artist development programme, Blast Creative Network (BCN), developed in partnership with The New Art Gallery Walsall. Whispering Reeds can be seen as part of Nothing Gold Can Stay: Assembly, alongside artists Mia Banks and Mandeep Dillon at The New Art Gallery Walsall until 9 November. 

Having my fathers boat at the core of this project and exhibited in Coventry Biennial and The New Art Gallery Walsall is something I’d never had imagined possible! My Dad certainly never imagined seeing his face on gallery walls!

Clare: Tell us a bit more about your background in documentary photography… What did you study and what was it that made you interested in this form of visual art?

Tegen: I’ve always loved photography, my dad bought me my first bridge camera aged 15, which I use to take on holiday with me and take photos that wouldn’t look out of place in IKEA or the B&Q home section! But my supportive parents still have them hanging on the wall at home.

I studied BTEC Photography at Stafford College which is where I really started to find my feet, being exposed to the likes of Richard Billingham and Diado Moriyama, I couldn’t believe you could take photos out of focus with limbs chopped off, it went against all the “rules” I was once brainwashed by. I had a great time at college and the teachers oozed passion and provided the support I needed to become the photographer I wanted to be.

I later went onto university to the University of South Wales, where I studied BA Photography. It was a toss up between the photography or the documentary course, which perhaps should have been a no-brainer having had the likes of David Hurn establishing the course, but I wanted to roll the dice and experiment with the wide scope of modules that the BA Photography course had to offer. The course was excellent, and I have fond memories of the visiting lecture programme (similar to the Art House Open Lecture and Radical Care series, Meadow Arts offers). I had the pleasure of listening to artists such as Andy Earl, Sian Davies and Michal Iwanowski- whose work Go Home Polish is fantastic.

Clare: Aside from working with Meadow Arts, you’re very active in the contemporary art scene across the West Midlands… are there any other exciting projects on the horizon? 

Tegen: Besides my part time role with Meadow Arts, I document exhibitions, events and workshops often relating to an artistic programme. I love the variation in my job as no two jobs are ever the same- I also get the pleasure of first look at an exhibition! 

I’m also proud to say my art has really taken off this year. I’ve got two very exciting, residencies coming up. Never did 17 year old me think I’d be doing the QUAD/FORMAT Emerging Artist Residency when I visited with my photography college course- quite the pinch me moment! The other residency is yet to be announced!

It’s been an exciting few years since working with Meadow Arts, every day is different and I don’t think I’d be able to do what I’m doing if it wasn’t for the support I get from the team. I love the flexibility and the encouragement I get from them to take on every opportunity that comes my way. 

Clare: Looking towards the future, who would be your dream artist to collaborate with and why?

Tegen: Although the style is totally different I’ve always been in awe of Gregory Crewdson, he’s like the godfather of photography to me. The scale of production is incredible and his attention to detail is second to none. His work is a prime example of the power of live, in-person engagement with art. His photographs are far more powerful than when viewed in print, although his books are beautiful too. So yeah, Gregory Crewdson!