The Shelter of Stories

25 October 2025 – 22 February 2026
Compton Verney 
Warwickshire
CV35 9HZ

This groundbreaking exhibition, curated by writer Marina Warner with Oli McCall and Roger Malbert and designed by Simon Costin, explores the art of storytelling. It examines its close relationship with the sense of home and belonging, as well as its vital role in times of upheaval and displacement.

Bringing together historic objects and images, alongside works by leading contemporary artists, the exhibition introduces visitors to a different approach to storytelling, and ask, through a range of artefacts in different media, why do we tell stories and what do they achieve?

The exhibition featured three works by Liliane Lijn: A is for Elm (1996), Fire Ice Poemcon (2007), and Liberate Heart (2007).

The Shelter of Stories unfolds in distinct sections, with each one focusing on a different aspect of storytelling. It draws on the Stories in Transit project – which began in 2016 in Palermo, Sicily, where many of those fleeing wars and famine arrive from different parts of the world.