Jem Southam’s New Book Opens Ray Exworth’s Sheds

Published On: 11 June 2026Last Updated: 11 June 2026By CornishStuff

📷 Jem Southam, Studio Interior of Ray Exworth_s The Circus 1984- 85 © Jem Southam(4)

For nearly fifty years, a sculptor worked almost entirely alone in a set of crowded sheds, making large and complex pieces that few people ever set eyes on. Much of that work has never left those sheds, and probably never will. Now a new book by one of Britain’s foremost photographers brings it into the open, and Kestle Barton near Helston is hosting the launch next month.

📷Jem Southam, The Doll and the Clown, part of The Circus, in the Pump Room, 2021-25 © Jem Southam

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A launch afternoon at Kestle Barton

The book is called Ray’s Sheds, and it is the work of photographer Jem Southam. Kestle Barton is launching it on Saturday 11 July, from 2pm to 5pm. The book is published by RRB Photobooks

The afternoon includes a talk in the studio and drinks in the garden. Visitors can also see Sarah Gillespie’s exhibition Birded and Eyed, which is on show in the gallery at the same time.

📷Jem Southam, Part of the abandoned works from The Circus, the Circus Shed, 2021-25 © Jem Southam

The hidden work of Ray Exworth

Ray Exworth (1939 to 2015) was a sculptor who worked in relative isolation from 1967 until his death. Across a series of densely packed spaces, he made large and complex sculptural works from plaster, wood, metal, stone, wax, textiles, paper and found objects.

Few people ever saw the work where it was made. Much of it is unlikely ever to leave the sheds. During his lifetime Exworth exhibited only rarely. There was a solo show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1975, and later presentations at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro.

Over the decades the sheds became an extension of the works they held, crowded and intricate spaces shaped by years of private, sustained activity.

📷Jem Southam, A Clown, in the Pump Room, 2021-25 © Jem Southam

A friendship that lasted more than thirty years

Southam first visited Ray and Susie Exworth in 1983, to photograph the studios for a grant application. That visit began a friendship that ran for more than thirty years.

After Ray’s death in 2015, Southam returned to the sheds with Susie Exworth’s support to make a fuller photographic record of the work. Kestle Barton has been building projects around Exworth for some time. Since 2011 it has presented A Shutter Came Down (2011), Ray’s Sheds: The Hidden Work of Ray Exworth (2016), and Naomi Frears’ Ray and Susie (2021). Southam is one of the gallery’s Associate Artists.

“Photography offers a way to see inside the sheds and this book a means for his remarkable sculptures to reach a much wider audience,” Southam said.

📷Jem Southam, Studio Interior of Ray Exworth_s The Circus 1984- 85 © Jem Southam

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About the book

Ray’s Sheds brings together photographs, texts and design by Jem Southam in a 120-page publication, printed by Narayana Press in Denmark. It contains around 50 plates made from 10×8 inch analogue negatives, alongside contextual photographs and short texts.

It is a softback, 275 by 323mm, in an edition of 450, priced at £45. There is also a special edition with a signed contact sheet at £125.

📷Jem Southam, Studio Interior of Ray Exworth_s The Circus 1984- 85 © Jem Southam

Who is Jem Southam?

Southam is one of Britain’s foremost photographers, known internationally for large-format landscape photography and photographic books. Much of his work explores the relationship between landscape, memory and human intervention, often returning to the same places over long periods.

His photographs have been shown at Tate St Ives, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Media Museum in Bradford, and are held in collections including the V&A, the Arts Council Collection and the National Museum of Wales. He was Professor of Photography at the University of Plymouth and later Emeritus Professor of Photography at the University of Exeter.

📷Jem Southam, CLOWN AND BUCKETS, the Circus Shed, 2021-25 © Jem Southam

Visiting Kestle Barton

Kestle Barton is an ancient Cornish farmstead above the Helford River, at Manaccan near Helston. One of its barns was converted into a gallery, which opened in 2010, and from early April to late October it runs a programme of three free exhibitions along with other events. The holiday accommodation in the surrounding barns and farmhouse funds that programme.

The gallery is open from 28 March to 31 October 2026, Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10:30am to 5pm. Kestle Barton is at Manaccan, Helston, TR12 6HU. The book launch runs from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday 11 July.