Past | 'Lores' by Bec Smith & Charlotte Swiden

15th - 27th February 2022

WHAT ARE THE STORIES WE TELL OUR CHILDREN AND OURSELVES, AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM? THERE ARE TALES WE HAVE OUTGROWN, AND THERE ARE THOSE THAT TELL US MORE ABOUT OURSELVES THAN WE ARE FULLY PREPARED TO ACKNOWLEDGE. DURING TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY WHICH NARRATIVES CAN WE RELY UPON?

Charlotte focuses on generating her own stories in her work. She does this by drawing on the respect and love for our natural world, holding nostalgia for stories that were once celebrated in ceremony and ritual.

“With Lores I wanted to explore the pagan tales where Mother Earth was a hero in a world filled with sprites that you treated with respect and a grain of fear. A lost narrative within our modern society that now deems our green mother be ruled over, controlled and exploited. I’ve been combining fragments of mythology and folklore from my homeland, together with my own experiences and reflections, re-imagining symbols and motifs.”

Bathing Nereids, Charlotte Swiden.

Bec’s work focuses on the dynamics between things, and has been honing in on tales of morality and ethical conundrum often found in fairytales and mythology. She uses purely form and colour to visually describe aspects of our human psyche via myth and legend across time and culture.

“I find myself drawn deeply into questioning and examining archetypes and stereotypes, gender roles, and universality. I’m awakening to their unconscious origins, as well as the patterns across time and cultures, and I try to deconstruct and then try to reconstruct them with my own developing language of symbols.”

Eternal Return IV/ Group Dynamics, Bec Smith.

Open 15th February

Join us to celebrate Thursday 17th 6-8pm

All photos by Graham Alderton