brief respite

nadia vitlin

14 sept–1 oct 2023

Brief Respite is a collection of works by artist Nadia Vitlin, whose purpose is to create ephemeral moments of softness for the brain, similar to the feeling of seeing natural geological formations of rock striations such as cliff-faces and canyons, marble slabs, semi-precious stones, windswept sandstone.

This exhibition is a response to the chronic migraines that permeate the artist's daily life–the creation of each work being a brief respite from either the symptoms of migraine (excruciating pain, sensitivity to light and sound, sensitive skin, nausea, fatigue, brainfog), or the side effects of the treatment (stiff neck, constricted sternum, lethargy, shallow breathing).

Each work is created to imitate carved stone in some way. Clay was used to form the drapes and ripples, and covered in poured paint, a method of making that relies on the molecular properties of the paint and gravity to form natural movement of colour–an ode to the same natural process that can be found in the geology of the earth's crust.