Artists

Jesse Glazzard

Press release

Jesse Glazzard’s new exhibition for GLUE 2026, marks the launch of his new photobook with Self Publish, Be Happy. The Sound of Dirt and Beauty reimagines the idea of the family through photography, intimacy and the living archive. The images form an ongoing, living archive – one that is constantly evolving and shifting. People come and go, while others are always there, photographed across years, spaces and places. Rather than a staged document of the artist’s life, the exhibition becomes a testament to intimate relationships that shape Glazzard’s understanding of family. The work is rooted in the experiences of working-class and low-income communities, while shaped on the fringes of queer culture. Alongside archival imagery shown publicly for the first time, the exhibition includes newly commissioned portraits taken across London and Manchester. By reimagining the family album as something that is lived rather than idealised, Glazzard proposes an expanded notion of family rooted in care, pain, vulnerability and enduring love found in the everyday.