Viewing Nicola Hicks: Dump circus

For a dose of arresting art, see Nicola Hicks’s new solo show at Flowers Gallery in Kingsland Road. The British artist, who is best known for addressing the universal, often darker aspects of humanity through contemporary allegory, has unveiled something really quite extraordinary here. At the heart of Dump Circus is a large-scale installation casting the city as an urban wasteland, where the natural world has been ravaged by greed and waste.

Expect to see discarded objects scattered across the gallery floor, a bear mauling the ringmaster and a rearing horse on a gigantic rubber tyre. Look to the walls and you’ll come face to face with the glaring cats, dogs and horses depicted in her playful series of works on paper, recalling the exuberant designs of circus posters.

This is an engaging exhibition that will prompt you to consider the destructive impact of human activity on the environment as well as the irrepressible resilience of life on earth.