Making Beauty: Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva

About

Her materials range from the unusual to the ordinary, from the ephemeral to the precious; they include organic materials, foodstuffs and precious metals.

Making Beauty is a new body of work made in collaboration with academics in medical departments of the universities of Nottingham, East Anglia and London, introducing highly regarded medical research activity to a wider public. Her work has been informed by their work on nutrition, healthy diet, our gut, and the development of highly specialised - invisible to the eye - manufactured parts providing solutions to medical problems. The sculptures reveal the fragility of our bodies and reflect the delicate nature of these medical components. The work has been supported by a research grant from the Wellcome Trust.

Making Beauty also includes the first UK showing of ‘Haruspex’ commissioned by the Vatican for the Venice Biennale, 2015, and her recent commission ‘Fragility’ for Fabrica Gallery, Brighton. Exploring near-death experience, this installation appropriated the length, breadth and height of the deconsecrated church and
will form the breathtaking entrance to her first major UK show at the Djanogly Gallery.

Making Beauty has been organised with the support of independent curator, Gill Hedley and the NIHR Nottingham Digestive Diseases Biomedical Research Unit.

The exhibition is accompanied by a series of talks, lectures and workshops.