“Vered Lahav’s work can be read as a series of short stories between which there is a certain continuity. Recurrent themes and narratives, central to the artist’s practice, are skillfully deployed within and threaded between episodes to question matters of gender, identity, relationships and migration. Throughout the characteristically subtle and understated work there is a persistent trace of autobiography: a nod to Lahav’s own experience, and the journey from her native homeland to the UK.
Alongside these distinct allusions to serenity and suppression, the garden also stirs notions of enlightenment which extend to the artist’s work. This is most notable in the use and application of materials in ‘Taxidermy’ (2013), where multiple resin-injected poppy casts sit in contrast to the traditional bronze-cast ‘Twilight’s Star’ (2009). And in the kitsch aesthetic of the ceramic owl in ‘The Visitor’ (2013), the vivid palette against an infinite black background offsets the more typical minimalism of ‘Scrimshaw’ (2013), a series of seven delicate drawings on fine white handkerchiefs. This represents new ground for Lahav, and The Garden has provided her with a liberating space to experiment and invent.”
Craig Ashley, Exhibition curator mac Birmingham, 2013
