Melissa Aristizábal reinvents the beauty of the divine feminine image inspired by sacred cultures from Mesopotamia to more recent religions such as Catholicism. Aristizábal muses on the power of icons and deities, focusing in particular on the reinterpretation of the sacred so as not to be profane but with elegance, grace and respect reveal human weakness. At the same time she explores the connection between the divine and earthly civilizations and their myths, rituals, magic, mysticism and alchemy.

Ben Stephenson’s work centres around notions of shared history and human experience, how the viewer can relate and empathise with the imagined Other through stories and images. He is interested in the ways in which these stories are transformed into living beings which is what inspires him to to combine images of origin with drawings of observation to create fictional narratives about popular tradition and myths to create a kind of fantastic realism.

NADA is an exhibition that brings two artists together to present the ancient history of man and symbols through a totally new lens. Stephenson and Artistizábal are creating a whole new story and NADA is the dust and microbes that will form new lives, new landscapes and new mythologies. This exhibition is an imagined future that helps to understand our past and in turn the deepest essence of the modern individual.