This group exhibition brings together six female artists whose practices explore the layered intersections of memory, identity, materiality, and care.
Zana
This group exhibition brings together six female artists whose practices explore the layered intersections of memory, identity, materiality, and care. While working across diverse media—from painting and photography to installation, sound, and sculpture—each artist is united by an intimate engagement with the tensions between visibility and concealment, tradition and transformation, the personal and political.
Drawing from diasporic narratives, intergenerational trauma, environmental observation, and the quiet design of institutional and domestic spaces, the works invite viewers into nuanced reflections on belonging, vulnerability, and resilience. Whether through the symbolic weight of cultural objects, the metaphoric resonance of natural materials, or the raw exposure of personal experience, this exhibition offers a shared yet multifaceted dialogue about how we navigate—and narrate—our place in the world.
We start with the exhibitions name: Zana, Zanat, Thana
It draws from the powerful mythological figures of Albanian folklore. Ethereal, strong female spirit who embodies nature, protection and resilience. The first window features the work of an Albanian artist, grounding the exhibition in the ancient heritage of Illyria and Albania, the country that is the oldest of the old. The opening sets the tone by representing the very origins of time and culture, connecting contemporary artistic voices to the deep, foundational roots of history.
As we move the windows you will see all artists embody Zana, warrior-like, showing moral ambiguity, strength and deep connection to nature. Just like our goddess Thana we represent the very nadirs of healing, feminine wisdom, mystery and enchantment.
Zana refers to the mythical creature in Albanian folklore, often depicted as guardian of mountains and forests. She is a natural spirit that embodies strength, protection and is wild. Something these artists all reflect through the connection of heritage, resilience, and powerful forces that shape our identity and creativity. Just as the timeless spirit– these six artist channel a delicate balance between vulnerability and power, tradition and transformation, inviting viewers to witness endurance, belonging and renewal.
From the elemental forces captured in Maria’s sculptural explorations, to Adrienne’s tapestry of diasporic symbolism, and Natalie’s reflections on growth and change, the artists evoke the protective and transformative energy that Zana represents. Sarah’s meditations on nature’s control and surrender, Jo’s intricate craftsmanship revealing life’s inescapable experiences, and Mary’s tactile storytelling of trauma all resonate with this mythic force—one that nurtures resilience, amid uncertainty and the enduring cycles of life that shape our shared humanity.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Adrienne Hasani is an Albanian artist based in Canada currently studying in Oxford. Her practice explores themes of memory, identity and culture through painting, tessellation and pattern making. With a background in education, her work often reflects on diasporic perspectives, intergenerational knowledge and traditional Albanian symbolism. Beyond teaching, Adrienne has exhibited in group shows here in Oxford, worked between the countries of Canada, Albania and now England in recent years and plans to continue to create work from her truest form of self, those that know me, understand my work in few words know me as ADI.
Sarah Beeson is a multidisciplinary and conceptual artist based in West Berkshire. Her practice questions nature, transformation and time. An intimate tension between the visible and the unseen plays a role in understanding a human's impulse to control environments. The blurred boundaries of control and surrender, conscious and unconscious are present in her work and seek to evoke a sense of wonder in our rapidly changing relationship with the environment.
Maria Robertson is a cross-disciplinary and elemental artist based in Oxford. Her practice interrogates materials in order to develop their essence and vitality. The transformational properties of steel, annealing, oxidation and manufacturing processes all create a rhythm in her work; she records and represents this research through alternate forms such as video, sculpture and sound where ideas emerge in a process of experimentation.
Jo Huyg is a witty artist and professional banner maker based in Oxford. Her practice shows through telling us about an environment rather than understanding it. Through highly skilled craftsmanship in refined stitching and intricate detail work. The work invites the viewer to question certain life experiences that are inescapable regardless of environment.
Natalie Gray is a British artist inspired by one's journey, growing up in Cotswold always surrounded by nature and the woodland trees have become a motif to the work. With a background in Masters in Printmaking, her work represents a multidisciplinary practice that comes in layers. A development of true resilience encases in both the work and the process, echoing themes of endurance, growth and transformation. Drawing on personal narratives, memory and the natural world. Gray’s pieces invite the viewer into a quiet yet powerful reflection of how subtle change comes into our world.
Mary Sheehan is British artist based in Oxford in current exploration of the generational impact of trauma. Her work is multidisciplinary and emotionally in tune. Using art as a way to translate the physicality of experiences through a variety of materials and into a tactile storytelling, each piece becomes a narrative. Her work creates a safe space for conversation, awareness and collective reflection to further the hopes of supporting one another through shared or unfamiliar pain.
