Bella Vernon
Broken Home
2002
Windows, ivy and lace
‘A windowless room means the end of a road has been reached.’1
Bella Vernon explores the potential of reclaimed objects, embedding them with imagery inspired by the landscapes around her, the London canals, cityscapes and architecture that form the fabric of everyday life. Salvaged mirrors, windows, and glass are restored from forgotten fragments into autonomous sculptural pieces that, in their partial transparency, traverse the boundaries between drawing and architecture. By adding and removing elements behind her mirrored surfaces, Vernon insists that we navigate both shadows and reflections, creating an image that is seemingly never quite static. Pre-existing imperfections upon the glass, in calling our attention to the outermost and innermost surfaces of the pieces, only make this viewing process a more unique one.
‘It’s about finding something and making it more.’
1 Carla Gottlieb, The Window in Art: From the Window of God to the Vanity of Man, Abaris Books, New York, 1981, 313
Photography: © Suzanne Le Sage
Bella Vernon studied at Camberwell College of Arts,
graduating in 2003 with a BA Hons in Sculpture.
She works at her East London studio and lives on a houseboat
with her family, travelling the waterways of London and beyond.
Dr Melanie S J Francis
About
© Bella Vernon 2014-17