Oscar Newcombe (with Ginny Reddick) - Flight exhibition

Oscar Newcombe

Welcome to the Flight exhibition, a selection of artists’ mobiles celebrating Dagenham’s history of aviation and its transmigratory population. Eleven artists and eleven writers explore this multi-layered theme during March and April at the Pink Tardis Gallery, Heathway Shopping Centre, Dagenham. 

Stare through the Pink Tardis window and marvel at these suspended sculptures, prototypes, and conceptual clouds. If you can't see the exhibition in person then don't worry, we'll be featuring all seventeen artworks here on the website. Every artwork has its very own dedicated writer, and we'll publish their responses here throughout March and April 2026.

We launch the Flight exhibition with a new CollectConnect artist, Oscar Newcombe. His rotating wooden panel reflects the duality of Dagenham's history. On one side we look up to the skies to see Hardy Amies' costume design for 2001: A Space Odyssey. On the flipside we look down to discover the Dagenham Idol, a Bronze Age wooden statue found in marshland on the north bank of the River Thames in 1922. It is an artwork of aspirations and dreams, fitting for a young artist with a bright future ahead of him.

Our writer today is Ginny Reddick, read her response below.

Oscar Newcombe

There you are,

You went so far,

Now there’s miles in your eyes, and a moon.

Look at you,

The one who flew,

Who heard star songs and orbital tunes.

What did you say?

I missed that, come again,

To the birdsong, the green and the blue.

Do you remember Major Tom

Who strayed too far and stayed too long?

Come back to the green and the blue.

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Oscar Newcombe is a multidisciplined artist who will be studying on the Foundation course at Kingston School of Art (Kingston University) in 2026.

Ginny Reddick is a writer and educator. She was one of the artists who exhibited at the first ever CollectConnect exhibition, Open Fridge, in March 2010. She has curated numerous CC projects including the Walthamstow street art favourite HideBird.