trapped in a coffin with nothing to do… is an installation by Jacky Cheetham. Through puppetry and collective participation, the exhibition presents visions of future hometowns, families, loves, demons and pals.

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The interactive installation centres on a forgotten puppet show set in and around ruined castle grounds in the fictional town of Heldham, Angelshireland, in the year 2066. The show has been abandoned following a mass puppeteer revolt, while several characters attempt to break up with the production’s main character: the Castle itself. Throughout the exhibition, audiences are invited to reactivate a cast of worn and broken puppets, becoming the puppeteer.

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Cheetham is interested in the idea that puppets can appear to have ‘lives of their own’, and in the ways puppetry has been used within theatre, politics and therapeutic practice. The work considers roleplay and performance as alternative forms of communication and as treatments for trauma.

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The exhibition examines the potential and ongoing failures of its creators through consumer-driven fantasies of the future. It draws on ideas around consumer culture, labour and legacy, while incorporating caricature, cartooning and character design as ways of personifying the effects that environments, objects and materials can have on communities over time.

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Cheetham grew up in Matlock, Derbyshire, and memories of the East Midlands and Peak District, alongside their historical contexts, continue to inform the research and fictional world-building within his practice.

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Jacky Cheetham is an artist and educator raised in Derbyshire, England, who currently lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied at Chesterfield College, Middlesex University and Glasgow School of Art. He works across installation, performance, moving image and participatory workshops. Recent presentations of trapped in a coffin with nothing to do… include Centre for Contemporary Arts, Supernormal Festival and SYSTEMA x GG’s at Palais Carli. He has also presented projects at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Edinburgh Art Festival, Glasgow International and fffriedrich/Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main.

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Alongside his artistic practice, Cheetham works across higher and further education and community organisations including Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow Clyde College. His work as an educator focuses on widening access to art, learning and skills-sharing through collaborative making and connecting regional histories with contemporary political contexts. His work has also been featured in The Word Is Art: The Global Use of Language in Contemporary Art, published by Thames & Hudson

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13 June — 04 July 2025
Private View: Saturday 13 June, 6–9pm
Open Friday–Sunday, 12–6pm

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Haarlem Artspace
The Red Lion, Market Place
Wirksworth DE4 4ET