See the Video

This video was filmed in her Roman garden by my friend Francesca as I was and describing the concertina book that will be presented at MAD Murate Art District in Florence on 22nd September 2026, part of the summer program of the Palmerino Art Association and the “Estate Fiorentina” the Summer festival sponsored by the city of Florence.

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see presentation “A Circular Journey” for Borse Nere

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The work is linked to the current summer exhibition at Il Palmerino in Florence, part of the “Estate Fiorentino”: “Altri Giardini”, works by Italian artist Elena Salvini Pierallini (1934-2024) known as ESP.

Having been given free rein to express myself in whatever way I wished, I ranged over so many aspects of my work and life. You can see some of the work in progress here as it came together in the studio, where I worked with scissors and glue putting together handwritten and printed texts in Greek, Italian and English and images that included original paintings, photos and xerox copies, threading together thoughts, memories and dreams as I shaped my stories. ESP created community events in Florence in which artists could produce and share works in conversation with her ‘Borse Nere’, or ‘Black Bags’. She would create concertina books filling only half of each book with her own artwork. She tucked each of her art books in large black bags symbolising the subconscious, and gifted them to other artists, with an invitation to fill both bag and book however they wished. The artists would then meet in public spaces and institutions for performances where they would bring out their books and discuss the works together in front of an audience. ESP’s daughters have gifted seven incomplete art books from their mother’s archive to me and six other contemporary artists to continue the art conversation their mother began decades ago. A public presentation by participating artists is scheduled for September 22 2026 from 5:30 to 7pm at MAD – Murate Art District, a former convent turned women’s prison, which became a contemporary art centre in 2011, hosting major exhibitions. Alongside my own work there will be the work of artists Elena Santoni, Ylenia Pigozzo, Veronika Bromberg, Irena M Kongsuwan, Sophie Robinson and Victor Rees who will share their works with the public and artists from previous iterations of the “borse nere” performances.

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Preview of concertina book to be presented at Murate Art District (MAD) Florence

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I was invited to exhibit at the Royal Free Charity stand at the Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead 6 – 10 May 2026.

Seven of my paintings were selected for sale at the stand helping to support and raise funds for the charity’s vital work. The Royal Free is a major London hospital and also my local hospital. My son was born there and I appreciate the care that my family and friends have received at the Royal Free throughout my life so I am happy to support it whenever I can.

The Royal Free Charity raises funds for the hospital to provide essential services and equipment. It also makes a visit to the hospital a more joyful experience for patients, staff and visitors through the varied art exhibited throughout the buildings, including six of my own works which are on permanent display.

Works selected for the stand:

Homage to Matisse: watercolour on Fabriano paper, painted in my Brighton studio with my collaborator, photographer Michaela Meadow modelling. It references various Matisse motifs and paintings with which I have been in dialogue over the years, including my oil painting of Greta Prozor, “My Matisse” seen in images 2 & 3 and in the background of the watercolour painting. But it is also a portrait of Michaela and a dialogue between two contemporary women: Michaela modelled for me over many years in Brighton while also creating poetic photographs and artists books exploring the female body and her relationship with nature. So we found many common themes and in our conversations and sessions we questioned the relationship between model and painter, the differences between the male and female gaze, the naked and the nude.

Also exhibited and for sale: Michaela x6, Weaver of Tales, Floorlength Frankie, Simi Hills, Mist over the Aegean, Hallowe’en night, Hiroshima.

I was impressed by the variety and standard of the work in the Fair and with how international it was with galleries from South Korea, China, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Japan and different parts of the UK.

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This is just one example of the collaborative energy that our Brighton studio building contained and the quirky and magical encounters it spawned.

Three months before leaving our beloved New England House, fellow artists and studio neighbours Frankie and Mary invited me and a few others to an early morning drawing session in the Level 5 Ladies Loos. and Sara facilitated other artists to draw via Zoom. Frankie and Mary modelled for us accompanied by live music from harpist Sekinue. It had to be early to capture the fleeting moment when the mesmerising aquatic light slants in through the windows to create an enchanted chamber.

It’s a private semipublic space in New England House that many are unaware of or overlook; a space that becomes visionary in the early morning light that softens the walls and submerges us in colours that range through aqua, eau de nil, pistachio, duck egg blue & Tiffany turquoise. Level 5 is where my studio was, so this was my “local” Loo for 12 years. 

New England House: a functional Brutalist building housing so many stories. As we drew the sea nymphs Frankie and Mary in the soft dreamy light, we were surrounded by photos they had taken earlier and attached to the walls along with a collage of self portraits taken by me and other “visitors” to the Loos.

Afterwards we created an impromptu installation of our work and some of my drawings are featured here. 

“The nymphs are departed” wrote T.S. Eliot in “The Wasteland”.

Maybe. 

But our traces still linger there and in our memories.

(Images & Credits: photos & works on paper Rea Stavropoulos; Loo Break installation Mary Martin, Francesca Cluney & Fior Anderson)

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