Tribal Indians at the Lewis Elton Gallery, Guildford

It is unusual for me to stay hooked to one particular work in an exhibition but at Mirror Mirror, currently showing at the Lewis Elton Gallery, I can’t quite tear myself away from the voices of an Indian tribe coming from one of Salli Tomlinson’s famous ‘sound pictures’. This richly coloured painting on wood, with its delicious layers of cracked varnish and colours yellowed by time, looks initially like a picture of 3 tribal Indians. But when I open the wooden door cut into the picture I hear tribal chanting, murmurings - the sounds of a place and a people far away from this gallery in Surrey.

Salli explains it is the actual voices of a Native American tribe and I am further amazed to hear that this elegant lady with her flowing grey hair journeyed alone to Taos, USA to show the finished picture to the Pueblo native American people.

“They were fairly hostile at first” she says, “and it was a bit nerve-wracking. But when I opened the sound picture door and they heard their own voices and other familiar sounds the tribal elder broke into a broad smile and that gave permission for them all to join in. It was a very spiritual moment.”

Salli first introduced sound pictures into the art world in the 1980s and in this exhibition we are privileged to see, and hear, two of her originals.

The second, ‘Alice’ is a potted history of her family in a huge wooden frame, with tiny cartoons, line drawings and bold, almost comic book portraits of relatives. She says she has always been fascinated with Alice in Wonderland then suddenly calls a young man over.

“Look here,” she says, opening one of the wooden doors, “there’s your dear ma”. He peers into the tiny door and Salli explains all the other relatives. It is a bewitching piece of work, so personal and yet so accessible for us all to see. The busy, chaotic soundtrack is a touching audio mix of family life.

Salli’s son Marcus shares this exhibition and his work is deliberately more minimal. His slow-focus photographs and a film projected on a wall are all he feels he needs to show. He admits he is secretive about his work. A glimpse at his website shows he achieved note in the 1990s for his fashion photography with the likes of French designer Lacroix and the influential British magazines i-D and The Face. He continues to experiment with photography and film and is clearly delighted to exhibit with his mother for the first time.

“We didn’t realise until we worked together how many common themes we have,” he says at the private view. “We come from a long line of artists and we thought it would be interesting for two of us to exhibit together.”

The show also focuses on Salli’s huge magical 2D sculptures and Marcus’s film of a moving sculpture, represented by a Gareth Pugh fashion garment. The Tomlinsons come from a long heritage of artists and painters and it is hard to represent their artistic journeys in such a relatively small space, but Mirror Mirror is an intriguing exhibition that definitely makes you want to find out more.

Mirror Mirror is at the Lewis Elton Gallery, University of Surrey until Thursday June 6. Tel: 01483 689167 www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/visualarts  

Artists' websites: www.sallitomlinson.com  http://marcustomlinson.com