Breadth becomes Air

“I see the behaviour of materials as a metaphor for movement on the earth’s surface, the rolling, folding, curving forms of the pulsing earth that we live on. I am acutely aware of my miniscule presence in this vast universe.”

The immensely tactile quality of O’Connell’s sculpture comes as no surprise to those familiar with her work: “My sculptures are like families of things; each sculpture is a distant relation of a previous one.” In 'Breadth Becomes Air', O’Connell re-interrogates her signature interests in a new body of work, making astute study of curvature and edges, always in contemplation of the physicality of the landscape which she is creating.

The show’s title, 'Breadth Becomes Air', refers to the largest Carrara marble piece included in the exhibition. For O’Connell, this was an experimental work – “I wanted to see how much air I could get into a big block of stone without compromising its structural strength”, she shares. “I think of air as a material to work with, and that is a huge challenge when working in stone”.