Reclaiming the Nymph: A Force of Nature
Each artist in 'Reclaiming the Nymph' presents us with a unique insight into the world in which we live.
Now more than ever, we should be looking to art and artists as advocates for social, environmental and political change.
While we celebrate International Women鈥� s Month, the role of women in preserving the natural world is one that cannot be ignored.
Reclaiming the Nymph 3 4 Gillian Jason Gallery Shining a light on environmentalism during International Women鈥檚 Month, 鈥楻eclaiming the Nymph: A Force of Nature鈥� - curated by Mollie E. Barnes - features eight internationally emerging female artists.
Reflecting on the roles women have played to protect the Earth, the artists simultaneously present a promise and a warning for the future; creating figurative works that highlight the connection, or lack thereof, between humanity and the natural world.
Traditionally depicted as beautiful maidens, Nymphs have typically been tied to a specific place or landform: Dryads lived in trees, Nereid belonged to the sea and Castalia transformed into a spring. However, through the rejection of pejorative connotations of the Nymph historically depicted in Pre Raphaelite, Renaissance and Mediaeval art, each artist in the exhibition challenges expectations of the sleeping, passive, invisible and objectified deities.
Instead, they look to present true meanings of change, nature and power in order to highlight the importance of protecting the environment and its future. The ideas presented are no longer restricted by staunch ideas of a gender binary, and are instead emerging, ready to drive change and promise. They are the personification of nature.
Michelle Nguyen, featuring for the first time in London, borrows motifs from 17th Century Dutch Vanitas to address themes of intergenerational trauma, historical erasure, and ecological grief. Inspired by the Mythological Greek Deity and Witch, Circe, Eleanor Johnson creates dreamscapes surrounding the magical connection between shape shifting humans and morphing creatures. Megan Baker鈥檚 paintings teeter on the edge of figuration and abstraction to transform the viewer鈥檚 eye as she paints nymphs in metamorphosis.
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Each artist in 'Reclaiming the Nymph' presents us with a unique insight into the world in which we live.
Now more than ever, we should be looking to art and artists as advocates for social, environmental and political change.
While we celebrate International Women鈥� s Month, the role of women in preserving the natural world is one that cannot be ignored.
Reclaiming the Nymph 3 4 Gillian Jason Gallery Shining a light on environmentalism during International Women鈥檚 Month, 鈥楻eclaiming the Nymph: A Force of Nature鈥� - curated by Mollie E. Barnes - features eight internationally emerging female artists.
Reflecting on the roles women have played to protect the Earth, the artists simultaneously present a promise and a warning for the future; creating figurative works that highlight the connection, or lack thereof, between humanity and the natural world.
Traditionally depicted as beautiful maidens, Nymphs have typically been tied to a specific place or landform: Dryads lived in trees, Nereid belonged to the sea and Castalia transformed into a spring. However, through the rejection of pejorative connotations of the Nymph historically depicted in Pre Raphaelite, Renaissance and Mediaeval art, each artist in the exhibition challenges expectations of the sleeping, passive, invisible and objectified deities.
Instead, they look to present true meanings of change, nature and power in order to highlight the importance of protecting the environment and its future. The ideas presented are no longer restricted by staunch ideas of a gender binary, and are instead emerging, ready to drive change and promise. They are the personification of nature.
Michelle Nguyen, featuring for the first time in London, borrows motifs from 17th Century Dutch Vanitas to address themes of intergenerational trauma, historical erasure, and ecological grief. Inspired by the Mythological Greek Deity and Witch, Circe, Eleanor Johnson creates dreamscapes surrounding the magical connection between shape shifting humans and morphing creatures. Megan Baker鈥檚 paintings teeter on the edge of figuration and abstraction to transform the viewer鈥檚 eye as she paints nymphs in metamorphosis.
