Byland’s Super Saga, Jack Pell

About

Byland’s Super Saga is the first institutional solo show by Hull born artist Jack Pell. The exhibition draws upon the magic of everyday life across history, and is born out of Pell’s personal experience growing up in Hull as a working-class person and all the vibrant complexities that come with that.  

Hull is often described as a city shaped by water. The artworks in Byland’s Super Saga take the regions waterways – the drains, the canals and the estuary – as metaphors to explore its key themes. It weaves together the recognisable, everyday aspects of a city with that which is bizarre and magical.

The exhibition is an attempt to highlight and examine the social history, folklore, industrial heritage and natural landscape of Hull and the East Riding in an imaginative way; as well as celebrate modern and unlikely aspects of popular culture such as fantasy and science-fiction, fairground art, car customisation, scarecrows and model building.

From reimagined replicas of some of Hull’s cast iron bridges including Wilmington and Sculcoates, to puppets named Wyke and Grim, who take on the characterised personas of Hull and Grimsby respectively, Byland’s Super Saga presents a creative interpretation of Hull unseen before.