Helen Britton – The Dark Garden, Second Act

The Dark Garden, installation part of the exhibition The Field of Knives and Flowers, bassrelief composed by 32 small jewels, is at his second act.


We are approaching the winter solstice, as Helen Britton mentions, which coincides with the beginning of the holidays and the end of this difficult year we all hope to leave behind us.
The dark garden is enriched with new figures and it is barely colored; the slight change of its chromatic value suggests a weak hope, it includes the need to resist and to stay consciously optimistic. Not everything is all right, but it will certainly be. We need to hope for this.
This is the wish I would like to extend to those of you who is reading this email. Thank you for the support you gave us in the past few months.
I wish you all a Happy Holiday Season and a Peaceful 2021

Antonella Villanova

 

This first addition to The Dark Garden comes as our world closes in. We approach the winter solstice, and all of Europe slips into complete closure, as it batons down against the virus. What a time to begin the process of imbuing the Dark Garden with new life. In this moment I had to ask myself what could I contribute? For myself, for my gallery and for my audience. Whirling the stones around on my table, among the plants and trees, animals appeared and they were frightened and angry. But they were not defenceless. The drama of the situation I find myself in is reflected in these pictograms, the stop motion animation playing out with childish directness and humour my own determination to participate in making a better, safer planet.

Helen Britton