Oil and Acrylic on Board
25.4 x 25.4 cms
2025
 
he work is fitted with mirror plates but can also be hung on screws as it is cradled.
 
This piece was featured in 'Wakelin Award 2025: Lucia Jones' at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. Following her selection as the award winner, the gallery invited Jones to present a solo exhibition of new and recent works, alongside three pieces officially acquired for their permanent collection.
 
"I wanted to push the treatment of painted space even further in this work, using Culture Hustle's Black 4.0 paint and the physical depth of the cradled board to emphasise the 'narrative plane' jutting out toward the viewer, playing on the layered, diorama-like construction. My intent was to capture the instability of the composition —capturing a precarious moment of either pulling together or being pulled apart by the force of the explosion.
 
This work draws on meme and millennial culture to explore burnout and catastrophization. Many of my works dance around what remains unsaid—thoughts held back out of politeness or dismissed as silly, melodramatic, or “emotional,” especially when expressed by women. This piece is more direct, tongue-in-cheek, and playful, reclaiming melodrama with humour. It hones in on melodrama as a source of power rather than a label to diminish or dismiss behaviour deemed irrational or excessive. It’s a challenge to how women’s emotions are perceived and framed." - Jones, 2026