the soft animal of your body explores the interior landscape of pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood. Created in the immediacy of these experiences, the paintings respond to the physical and psychological shifts of matrescence: time untethered, memory fragmented, the self both expanded and newly fragile.

Fabric becomes a recurring motif, echoing the domestic rhythms of early caregiving – bedsheets tangled by night feeds, the disorientation of sleep deprivation. Folds of cloth form pathways where images surface and dissolve, and the works hover between fantasy and lived reality.

Taking its title from by Mary Oliver, the exhibition speaks to acceptance and belonging within the natural world – at once beautiful and stark. The paintings sit within this tension: between fear and awe, vulnerability and resilience, and the loss of self alongside the discovery of new intimacies.

Jen Wade is a visual artist based in Co Waterford, and a studio artist at GOMA Waterford.

This project was kindly supported by ArtLinks, Waterford City and County Council, and The Arts Council of Ireland.