Thanks for Nothing is a body of work born out of a recent personal experience of recurrent pregnancy loss over a 12-month period. Created with over half a million de-stashed and thrifted melty beads, these works capture fragments of conversations, clinical language, and my own reflections. The process of obsessive, repetitive creation became both a refuge and a mode of healing, allowing me to confront and process my grief and transform it into something tangible.
Each piece in the collection reflects aspects of my journey, including the often unspoken phrases, platitudes, and scripted responses I received—or even repeated myself—in the isolating aftermath of my losses. In this work, the act of creation became a way to process that isolation, understand my trauma, and give physical form to my emotions that would otherwise remain unspoken or forgotten.
Melty beads carry deep personal significance, symbolising a pivotal moment in my experience while offering a meditative and repetitive process that facilitated healing, reflection and catharsis. Inspired by the domestic motifs of vintage quilts, patchworks, tea towels, and cross-stitches, panels are linked with jump rings, connecting memories in a way that mirrors the interwoven nature of loss, grief, and isolation. Using the bag as a form reflects a recurring desire to place my emotions and experiences somewhere else while I took the time to recover. The bags serve as an attempt to physically contain and hold the weight of these emotions, creating a delicate space where complex and conflicting feelings can reside.
Through this process, I have sought to own and share my experiences and aim to transform the strange and invisible feelings of loss into something tangible.
Opening night event: Saturday 1 February 6 – 8 pm
Artist talk: Saturday 1 February 5.30 pm
Up late closing event: Thursday 13 February 6 – 8 pm
Image: Thanks for Nothing, Melty beads, 43.5 x 28.5 cm
