Playing With Soft Hands is an exhibition of new sculptures and paintings by Valerie Norris. They are a continuation of Norris’ ongoing practice and consider ideas around femininity, feminism, care and fragility.

Nomas* Projects is a four window gallery space, based in 9a Ward Rd, run by local artists, Cully McCulloch and Owen Daily. You can check out Playing with Soft Hands until September 27th.

The sculptural works, in particular, were made specifically for the Nomas* Projects window spaces, however in both these and in the paintings, the artist is also thinking through cultural and societal notions of display, desire, value, love and identity.

The works evolve from an accumulation of found objects, imagery and text which are gathered by the artist from a wide variety of sources including popular culture, charity shops, the natural world, literature, poetry and everyday detritus. From this, a complex web of chance relationships, themes and associations builds organically to form a personal visual language. Improvisation and intuitive decision-making are used to experiment with and explore the spaces between the physical world, language and imagination.