I Extend My Arms

I Extend My Arms was a collaborative exhibition curated and created by Karl Murphy as part of a 2023 residency with ArtHouse Jersey. Murphy invited artists Lewis G Burton, Yasmine Akim, Dr. Adam Perchard, and Jack Killick to join him in developing new work that responded to the lives and legacy of surrealist pioneers Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore.

Cahun and Moore, a radical couple known for their self-portraiture, performance, and anti-fascist resistance, moved to Jersey in 1937. For them, the island became both a sanctuary and a site of rebellion a place to explore identity, make art together, and resist conformity, both personal and political.

Drawing on this history, I Extend My Arms became a space of queer reflection. The project asked how Jersey might again offer a backdrop for creativity, community, and resistance in a time of global upheaval. The artists working across sound, sculpture, photography, drawing, video, and performance inhabited the island’s landscapes and histories, producing work shaped by their shared time living and creating together.

The exhibition’s title was taken from one of Cahun’s most iconic works, I Extend My Arms, in which they lean their body against a standing stone. That gesture of reaching outward toward the past, toward each other became a guiding image for the project.

Murphy first encountered the work of Cahun and Moore while studying in London, where they were framed as foundational to contemporary practices in performance and identity. But what resonated most with him was their relationship: the collaboration, intimacy, and love that was inseparable from their creative process. This relational aspect was central to I Extend My Arms a project not just about making work, but about making a space to live, think, and feel together as queer artists.

As part of the exhibition, the group led a series of free public events including community workshops, a guided tour, and a live performance night. These activities extended the ideas of the exhibition beyond the gallery walls, inviting others into the conversation and activating the themes through shared experience.

For Murphy, the project aimed to both honour the legacy of Cahun and Moore and introduce a new generation of queer artists to the people of Jersey. It was a call to remember that Jersey, too, can be a site of radical imagination and that the queer presence on the island has always existed, and continues to grow.

The Project was made possible by Arthouse Jersey and supported by Jersey Heritage and Arts Council England.