White Chapel Somerset is pleased to present MEGABRECCIA, a site-specific exhibition by George Henry Longly. Raised in Langport, Somerset and now based in London, Longly has exhibited internationally at the Serpentine in London, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and Red Bull Arts in New York. This exhibition marks a homecoming, returning the artist’s practice to the landscape and geology he grew up in.
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The title comes from a type of rock made of large, broken fragments naturally cemented together. In Langport, the Blue and White Lias—sedimentary stone formed from clay, marine life, and shale—has been quarried for centuries. Marble and local lias stone is cut, stacked, drilled, or balanced with objects like mechanical ball bearings or discarded NOS canisters—each with its own language of speed, impact and release.
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Reverse-painted mirrors trace planetary systems; resin spheres suspend pigments and objects as if in zero gravity. These shifts in scale—between the micro and the macro, the deep past and the present moment—mirror the title’s play on geological time.
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Breccia is Italian for “breach,” a word that carries multiple meanings: rupture, breakthrough, crossing a threshold. For Longly, it also speaks to his own heritage. His grandmother left post-war Naples for South West England, leaving behind the horrors of war and building a new life. In this exhibition, breach becomes a metaphor for survival and renewal, a leap beyond limits.
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Composite materials run through Longly’s work, reflecting nuance, complexity, and the idea that we are made of “many parts–multiple subjectivities, layered identities.” This sense of network and togetherness, forged through time and pressure, shapes MEGABRECCIA as much as the physical stones.
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The former modernist chapel on The Hill is not a neutral vessel but an active collaborator. Light from its high windows falls across stone, mirror, and marble, while a dark side room becomes a contrastingly intimate setting for a video screening.. Opposite the fifteenth century All Saints Church, the chapel’s history of gathering and contemplation deepens the conceptual layering of the work.
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“Doing a show in Somerset, my hometown, feels very meaningful,” says Longly. “It’s a full-circle moment.” MEGABRECCIA invites visitors to move between fragments and wholeness, where geology, memory, and identity converge.
George Henry Longly (b. 1978, Taunton, Somerset, UK) is a London‑based multidisciplinary artist. He studied painting and printmaking at Sheffield Hallam University and holds an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins (2005). His multidisciplinary practice combines sculpture, painting, installation, curation, sound, video, performance, and design.
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Longly’s practice blends technology and innovation with traditional techniques, embedding everyday and high-culture objects into stone, marble, mirror, and steel to explore ideas of transformation, consumption, and labour. Referencing museology and exhibition structures, he questions how objects are seen and valued. His interest in outer space and microgravity has led to his work travelling to the International Space Station. Longly’s work invites both engagement and contemplation, positioning the viewer as participant and observer.
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Major solo exhibitions include We All Love Your Life (Red Bull Arts, New York, 2016); The Tissue Equivalent at Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Benthos at Galerie Kandlhofer, Austria; Toxungenous Activities Fiorucci Arts trust, London, and Park Nights at the Serpentine Gallery, London.
He has participated in significant group exhibitions at institutions including Lisson Gallery (London), ICA (London), Mendes Wood (São Paulo), David Zwirner (London), Kunsthal Aarhus, MAXXI, (Rome) and The Moving Museum (Istanbul). His work is in public and private collections and has garnered support from Arts Council England, The Elephant Trust, Fluxus Art Projects, and The Henry Moore Foundation.
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Alongside his studio practice, he founded and co-runs Ridley Road Project Space and collaborates closely with artists Prem Sahib and Eddie Peake, merging visual art and music under the name AHMD. He is currently working on a major new public artwork on the banks of the River Thames in Central London, set to open in summer 2026.
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