The Medium is the Message

An exhibition at The College of Psychic Studies
9th October 2025-31 January 2026 

This autumn and winter, The College of Psychic Studies presents The Medium is the Message – a major exhibition that explores the rich and complex relationship between artistic practice and mediumship.

Marking the centenary of the College's move to its historic home at 16 Queensberry Place in 1925, the exhibition spans four floors and features over 100 artworks alongside rare archival materials. It brings together more than 30 artists from the mid-19th century to the present day, examining how artists have visualised supernatural connection and imagined radical futures shaped by the ghostly and the unseen.

The Medium is the Message invites visitors to consider the artist as a channel between worlds – as a receiver of visions, energies and ideas. It highlights the enduring role of mediumship within the College's history, with particular focus on the vital contributions of women – as artists, mediums, and feminist visionaries.

The exhibition includes newly acquired works by Ithell Colquhoun, Aleksandra Ionowa, Sidney Manley, Ethel Le Rossignol, Anna Mary Howitt Watts and others alongside the first UK presentation of American visionary artist Paulina Peavy. These are shown in dialogue with works by contemporary artists including Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Chantal Powell and Samir Mahmood, engaging with themes of spirit communication, ancestral memory, and the energetic connection between the body, Earth, and unseen realms.

Participating artists:

Mary Bligh Bond, Ann Churchill, Ithell Colquhoun, Joseph Crépin, Nicole Frobusch, Madge Gill, Anna Hackel, Frederick Hudson, Aleksandra Ionowa, Louise Janin, Freda Köhler, Augustin Lesage, Susan MacWilliam, Cara Macwilliam, Samir Mahmood, Sidney Manley, Margot, Cecile Marková, Alice Essington Nelson, Heinrich Nüsslein, Paulina Peavy, František Jaroslav Pecka, Alice Pery, Chantal Powell, Victoria Rance, Ethel Le Rossignol, Victorien Sardou, Austin Osman Spare, Sarah Sparkes, Shannon Taggart, Mimei Thompson, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Anna Mary Howitt Watts, Ethel Annie Weir, Ariela Widzer, among others.

The Medium is the Message is curated by Jacqui McIntosh, Curator & Archivist at The College of Psychic Studies.

Associated events:

• 

  The Nightlife of Ithell Colquhoun

  Talk

  This in-person talk explores the importance of dreams & other nocturnal experiences in Ithell Colquhoun's life.

  With: Dr Richard Shillitoe

  Booking & More Info

• 

  Anna Mary Howitt: Pre-Raphaelite, Spiritualist, Psychologist

  Talk

  This online talk traces the evolution of Anna Mary Howitt Watts’ artistic practice.

  With: Rachel Oberter

  Booking & More Info

• 

  Aleksandra Ionowa's Visionary Art

  Talk

  Discover the extraordinary life and work of Finnish artist Aleksandra Ionowa in this livestream talk.

  With: Dr Nina Kokkinen

  Booking & More Info

• 

  Ithell Colquhoun’s Diagrammatic Style

  Talk

  This livestream talk explores artist Ithell Colquhoun's works within the wider context of occult diagrams.

  With: Dr Amy Hale

  Booking & More Info