(sm)Art

Nicole Wassall - RETROSPECTIVELY FINDING THE LIGHT

Last week I was in London to see Nicole’s show and I am very eager to introduce you to her work.

Storyteller

Nicole is a storyteller and she tells with wit, elegance and skill.

The themes she handles are slightly uncomfortable: equality, the passing of time, perfection, golden cages,… Quite universal topics and therefore (sometimes unfortunately) never passé. Unlike some artists whose work (quickly) becomes outdated, Nicole’s work becomes better and more relevant over time. I believe this is due to her fascinating (neurodivergent) way of thinking, which is ahead of time, but also so vast and universal it will keep on passing that test of time.

(sm)Art

What I particularly love about Nicole’s work? It’s enlightening. Not just due to all the gold: there’s lots of it, but mostly because it makes me feel wiser knowing it, and that knowledge grows with every piece!

One of her teachers at Central Saint Martins called her an anarchist in the sense that she analyses and absorbs everything she can regarding a question/subject/theme and then throws it all overboard, keeping only the essence, which then becomes a new truth: her artwork.

Nicole intuitively uses neuroscience as a tool and combines it with a deep interest in the nature of things and the workings of the mind.

Her particular attention to details adds subtle layers to the stories she tells and make the pieces more and more interesting the longer you look, absorb and read about them.

The medium is the message

A statement by Marshall McLuhan, meaning that the form of a message determines the ways in which that message will be perceived. Nicole chooses the medium of her work very precisely to ensure it’s the most adequate for each specific piece. She works with a vast range of techniques: installation, video, photography, poetry, sculpture, painting, drawing, etc. and it seems that she learns a new skill for every new artwork, mastering it at dazzling speed.

Let me enlighten you with a few artworks

I can’t keep all this enlightening knowledge to myself, right?

/Pope Joan, Patron Saint of Feminists (2023)/

The story goes that Joan travelled to Rome and disguised herself as a man so she could study, she was so successful that she eventually became Pope! Until she gave birth during a religious procession along Via Sacra and was stoned to death. This whole idea is, of course, rejected as fiction by the Vatican. But Nicole canonises Pope Joan by depicting her as an icon. Gotta love a feminist move.

Since the story is unresolved… the sky remains bare. See what I mean with the attention to details?

/Equality (2019)/

The metronome is wound up and swings uncomfortably slowly. The clicking sometimes aggravatingly loud, but also surprisingly easily disappearing in the background. The title refers to anyone who feels oppressed any way: women, people of colour, religious communities, citizens in poverty, LGBTQ+ people, …

This is one of the pieces where the golden reflection makes the viewer part of the work.

I do believe the wands are feminist too as I see witches as the early embodiment of female empowerment, resilience, and rebellion against patriarchal oppression. Not sure Nicole means them this way…

/Mysterious Times (2022)/

A desolate landscape in a glass dome narrating the precious nature of time with elements often discarded: human hair, a snail shell and coral washed up on a beach. Beautifully poetic The beginning of a fairy tale in a snow globe…

/I wish the hand was silver (2012)/

A marionette puppet with the three symbols of Abrahamic religions. Light spots and shadows of the symbols cast against the wall, the composition questioning faith and social structures (good and evil). Excellent example of a topic that seems more and more relevant with time passing.

/And somehow we’re meant to be perfect (2019)/

In short, this shows the practice of learning how to water gild as a metaphor for the practice of learning how to become a better version of oneself. One beautiful ‘golden mirror’ at a time.

Acquainted

Conclusion: you need to familiarise yourself with Nicole’s work to grasp the immense beauty and significance of it all. At first sight is really not enough.

The show at TM Lighting with her gallery Fiumano Clase does honour to her work, but it would be so much better suited in a museum: a place where one takes the time to see, take in, read, rethink and understand. The complexity and depth of her work surpasses a gallery show.

Details and practicalities

RETROSPECTIVELY; FINDING THE LIGHT

11/09 - 7/10/2025

TM Gallery

7 Cubitt Street

London, WC1X0LN

There’s only one week left to see the show, but make sure to follow her on instagram or check out her website to learn more. Also the interview with (none other than) Apollo Magazine is excellent.

This text was 100% humanly written.

(Equality photo from Nicole’s website, all other photos are mine)