SICKly SWEET REVENGE

In Summer 2025, Kika Sroka-Miller co-curated, produced, and programmed Sickly Sweet Revenge with artist Miranda Pissarides. Presented in partnership with Hypha Studios, Marble Arch, London, the exhibition was accompanied by a three-week public events programme that included talks, workshops, performances, and the inaugural Silver Press Literary Labs.

The exhibition featured work by Lolly Adams, Ornagh, Sharon Le Grande, W.H.Y., Delia Detritus, Miranda Pissarides, and Sroka-Miller. The artworks encompassed painting, sculpture, sound, XR, VR, performance, installation, photography, and drawing.

Sickly Sweet Revenge examined the notion of uncategorisability, especially in relation to femininity, at a moment when ideas of the monstrous, the abject, and the vulgar were resurfacing in public discourse within the visual arts. Its title was drawn from Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness: “Slime is the revenge of the In-itself. A sickly-sweet, feminine revenge which will be symbolised on another level by the quality ‘sugary.’”

  • Art gallery with paintings, a red sculpture made of inflated balloons on a pallet, and a display case with colorful brochures.
  • People walking past a glass storefront with a pink heart-shaped art piece made of flowers, inside the store. The art piece says "SICKLY SWEET REVENGE."
  • Display of colorful books behind a glass barrier on a green counter in an art gallery or bookstore, with framed artwork and patterned tiles on the wall in the background.
  • Glass sculptures resembling melting ice cream on display near a window in a brightly lit space.
  • A group of women seated in a circle in a room with large windows, discussing or sharing in a casual setting. There is a colorful, abstract painting on the wall and a large pink sculpture made of pebbles or similar material behind the women.
  • An art exhibit featuring a photograph of a person with wet, messy hair, facing away from the camera, on a white wall. A blurred red object in the foreground partially obscures the view.
  • White ceramic dolphin figurine on a black robotic vacuum cleaner on a white surface, with a blue textured mat in the background.

The exhibition and events programme brought together artists, writers, publishers and cultural programmers whose work engages with form, (im)materiality, subjectivity, body and being under the impetus of revenge. An impulse felt amongst all participants especially given the weight of the UK Supreme Court’s judgement on the meaning of “sex” made in the Spring of 2025.

Exhibition information including, full list of works, floor plan and artists’ biographies.

  • Showcased books on display, including three copies of a book titled 'Everyone is Fucking at the Gym' with beige and blue cover art, an orange book titled 'The Gender of Sound' by Anne Carson, and a pink book titled 'Revolutionary Letters' by Diane Di Prima. The books are behind a glass display case with a patterned wall in the background.
  • An open green metal box containing various vintage electrical and electronic parts, tools, and miscellaneous small objects.
  • Pink art installation resembling a house with a unicorn horn on top, made of textured pink material, with a butterfly decoration on the front, and set inside a modern gallery with artworks and display cases in the background.
  • Abstract painting of a nude woman with flowing hair and a large pink sculpture made of clustered glossy, balloon-like shapes.