Two brothers, three sisters, a mouse and some unfortunate birds

About

Recent graduate Jo Smith crafts beautiful and haunting artworks combing print, textiles and stitch-work to weave tales of loss, sorrow and suffering in the domestic environment. For this new exhibition Jo takes as her subject the minor tragedies of the passing away of household pets, who have lost their life to ill health, neglect or abuse. Works concentrating on their unfortunate ends are shown alongside stitched portraits of the animals when happy and healthy, akin to the photographs of family members which adorn the walls of most homes. ‘This exhibition concerns the plight and ‘small deaths' of the animals buried at the bottom of the garden, two rabbits, three kittens and a mouse. Kittens that died in their sleep, in beds, surrounded by the fleas that killed them, their deaths entirely preventable, victims of neglect at the hands of their carer. The solitary mouse, tormented and terrified by the cat, left to die on the floor, lost and alone.'