Laura Ní Fhlaibhín (b. in Dublin, IRL, lives and works between London and Ireland) works with materials related to healing and nourishment. Sifting stories, materials and traces associated with site, memory, myth, narratives of care and the casting of spells, she creates complex but pithy material scenarios. These may incorporate condensed sculptural images, drawings, text, performance and formal gatherings of elements that serve as ritual artefacts and talismans.

The artist combines medical tools with organic material to form arrangements that reference modern Irish life as well as sanitized medicinal environments. Her assemblages often function as a gesture or ritual of care. Stainless steel sculptures, that Laura incorporates into her performances, are combined with small bronze amulets that are cast from personal talismans. Willow branches refer to the artist’s Irish childhood. Egg shaped objects symbolize fertility and regeneration as well as the piseóg, a term from Irish mythology that is associated with an object that exists between life and death. A triptych of drawings depicts a voyage: sailing through phosphorescent realms, propelled by a caterpillar ship and leopard slugs, to arrive at blue warming pools on willow shores.

Olga Migliaressi-Phoca (b. 1981, lives and works in Athens) creates narratives that reflect popular culture of today and echo current viewpoints and attitudes of western society with a pinch of irony. In her text based works, the artist turns iconic logos into a thought-provoking play of words. Recognizable, familiar signs that have become a mundane part of everyday vocabulary become transformed into a novel narrative.
Her work touches upon matters of gender (in)equality and examines the position of women in today’s society. Two large mirror pieces representing covers of the fictional Vague magazine, look into the future only to ponder how such gender matters will be perceived in years to come and whether they will still be a topic of discussion or an issue of the past. As an extension to “The Future is Vague”, Migliaressi-Phoca introduces the “Vague – Beauty” series. These smaller mirror pieces explore the different female beauty standards around the world, offering a commentary on society’s expectations of women and the burdening, often unrealistic, and barely achievable stereotypes they “have” to adhere to. Similarly, the work “Get the Hell Out” (2020) appropriates the universally recognizable EXIT sign found in public buildings into audacious statements against gender prejudice.