Quench co-owner Lindsey Mendick

After a five month closure due to emergency building works, Quench project space and Gallery in Margate reopens with a group exhibition by artists with lived experience of mental health challenges.

The gallery, run by Lindsey Mendick, Gemma Pharo and Guy Oliver, was created in the pandemic with the aim of giving artists and curators an opportunity to develop new work and put on exhibitions.

The not-for-profit venture also hosts one-off events within the gallery such as screenings, performances and pop-ups.

Quench also runs a summer school, gallery tours and creative workshops for young people from backgrounds underrepresented in the arts.

The reopening exhibition – Where Is My Mind? – explores how artistic practice can function as a coping mechanism, a form of care, and a way of maintaining stability, while acknowledging the realities of making work alongside anxiety, depression, neurodivergence, trauma, and burnout.

Rather than romanticising artistic suffering or framing mental health as a barrier to creativity, the exhibition centres on process, adaptation, and sustainability.

It highlights the practical and emotional systems artists develop to continue working, positioning art-making as something that can coexist with vulnerability and uncertainty.

Alongside the exhibition, in-person and online seminars will share peer support and practical resources. The project aims to create an open, supportive space for artists and audiences—reducing isolation and strengthening Margate’s creative community.

As part of the exhibition there will be a public programme of talks and workshops. The first will be on August 29th at 2pm exploring parenthood, art practice and mental health. This will be a free event with very limited tickets.

Check the Quench newsletter and Instagram for first access.

A special edition by Lindsey Mendick of fly ceramics with stained glass wings will be released during the opening of the show, all sales go towards the future programming at Quench to keep the gallery free and accessible.

Where Is My Mind? Opens on August 29 and runs until October 11.

Find Quench at Viking House Cliftonville Avenue, Margate CT9 2AH.

Open Friday – Sunday (during exhibitions) 12pm — 5pm or by appointment.

Find it online at: https://www.quenchgallery.co.uk/