Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is a visually rich showcase of contemporary craft objects that appeal to Gothic sensibilities and feature symbols, motifs and aesthetic cues that draw on our innermost fears and dark desires. As a literary, artistic and aesthetic style, the Gothic has long been employed as a means to explore and express the darker aspects of life that are usually unsettling, unspoken hidden from view. The works presented in Heart of Darkness form a collective narrative that honours the Gothic tradition while reimagining it through contemporary artistic voices—proving that darkness can be a path to illumination, knowledge, discovery and creativity.

This exhibition features fourteen artists working across ceramics, jewellery, glass, fibres and multimedia whose works incorporate symbols, motifs, colour palettes and sensibilities that are associated with the Gothic. These artworks – beautiful, mysterious and tinged with the macabre – invite audiences to step into the shadows and experience the allure of that which dwells in darkness.

Darkness isn’t absence – it’s where the soul thrives.

Exhibitors: Welfe Bowyer, Claybia, Emma Davies, Belinda Guerin, Harriet Geater Johnson, Nicolette Johnson, Alicia Hannah Naomi, Karlien van Rooyen, Ebony Russell, Regine Schwarzer, Emma Shepherd, Drew Spangenberg, Alex Valero and Julie Winn

Belinda Guerin, Serpentine Altar, 2025, reduction fired stoneware, candles from Hahndorf Candle Maker, 330 x 240 x 90, Photo: Connor Patterson