the soft animal of your body | Jen Wade

Join us for the launch on Saturday 28 February, 6–8pm. The exhibition will be opened by artist Ciara Roche, with music on the night by Le Haine.

All are very welcome!

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𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 explores the interior landscape of pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood. Created in the immediacy of these experiences, the paintings respond to the physical and psychological shifts of matrescence: time untethered, memory fragmented, the self both expanded and newly fragile.

Fabric becomes a recurring motif, echoing the domestic rhythms of early caregiving – bedsheets tangled by night feeds, the disorientation of sleep deprivation. Folds of cloth form pathways where images surface and dissolve, and the works hover between fantasy and lived reality.

Taking its title from 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘎𝘦𝘦𝘴𝘦 by Mary Oliver, the exhibition speaks to acceptance and belonging within the natural world – at once beautiful and stark. The paintings sit within this tension: between fear and awe, vulnerability and resilience, and the loss of self alongside the discovery of new intimacies.