Lavinia Harrington

Lavinia Harrington’s (b.1986, UK) pastels on paper appear soft and effortless, yet are the result of a labour-intensive process. Working directly with her hands, she embeds pigment into paper by folding, soaking, and rubbing until the material carries its own emotional weight. The resulting pieces, reworked and folded multiple times, hold and transmit sensations of vulnerability and fragility as well as strength. The tactility of paper becomes a metaphor for the body: how much can it hold before it breaks? Each fold is a scar, a memory, carrying something unspoken. Harrington’s cultural and professional background lies in the Italian Renaissance. The colours and texture of 14th and 15th century frescoes inform her palette and material sensitivity. While making No forcing and no holding back, she was reflecting on the famous Giotto frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel. The memory of Giotto’s angels rolling up the sky recurs in her thinking: ‘How striking to imagine something as limitless as the sky rolled up like paper, with such a dense and vividly pink verso’.

Exhibitions at the gallery:

Lost for Words, 2025 (group show)