Green Seed From Dark Earth
Chantal Powell
28/02/20 - 28/03/20

The way is not straight. The way to the goal is chaotic and spiralling, and only gradually do the signs surmise that it is leading anywhere. Hooded dwarf gods stand at the ocean edge of the ego mind. Kinsmen of the unconscious, they offer navigation into the darkness and uncertainty for those ready to brave the spirit of the depths. Encountering the unconscious is tortuous knowledge but this golden understanding births new life.

Green Seed From Dark Earth showcases works by Chantal Powell that have emerged from her research into Jungian depth psychology and the beginnings of her personal inner alchemical journey. An installation of Night Nettles serves as a reminder that our growth comes with a price. Healing rarely come without a sting as we see repeatedly in folklore and mythology. In the tale of the Wild Swans, Eliza “groped in amongst the ugly nettles, which burnt great blisters on her hands and arms” in order to weave the magic that was required to free her brothers. 

Twigs that were collected during a time of severe ill health have been cast in bronze and precious metals, markers of transformative lessons and trials. Calcinated clay figures and primordial symbols evoke relics that are at once new and yet also archetypally familiar to our collective remembering.

Chantal Powell creates sculptural works about the unseen aspects of our psyche. A PhD in social psychology and an interest in Jungian theory and alchemy inform her practice. Powell was shortlisted for the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award in 2015 and has exhibited at venues including the Guildhall Art Gallery in London, Arusha in Edinburgh, The Royal West Academy in Bristol, and at collateral events at the 53rd and 54th Venice Biennales. She is the founder of the contemporary arts program Hogchester Arts in rural West Dorset.

Haarlem Artspace gallery is open Fridays and Saturdays 11-4pm