Clara Frain-Atallah
Poised for a forward movement, 2026

Tinfoil, Linen, Oil, Charcoal

In Poised for a Forward Movement, we encounter a series of tinfoil swan sculptures, alongside a painting made up of smaller linen scraps stitched together.

Over the 10-month span of this programme, Clara has been preoccupied with pace and what it means to make art with this in mind. A recurrent condition throughout her art career has been balancing paid work in hospitality and the labour of art-making. The tinfoil swan has become a symbol of this conflict: a dynamic sculpture made in seconds that Clara would make at restaurants. The swan imbues outdated opulence and manufactured theatrics within the workplace.

Displayed in a circular motion, the tinfoil swans exist in a constant loop of movement and are made directly in the exhibition space during the two-week installation period. Viewing painting as a space to be activated, the stitched linen acts as a backdrop in conversation with the swans. The patchwork technique reflects the scale of Clara’s studio space, working in fragments I focused on mark making and navigating colour.

Poised for a Forward Movement is an installation that reflects the conditions in which it was made: space, time, and labour. It is designed with the intention of disassembly at the end of the show.

Clara Frain-Atallah is an artist who takes inspiration from stories of food, symbols in everyday life, and theories of alternate realities, often through the medium of painting. Her compositions unfold like scenes in a play; these restagings become sites where the drape of a tablecloth might echo the fall of a stage curtain. Through recurring motifs and investigative abstraction, everyday objects transform into symbolic anchors, amplifying how food food functions both materially and metaphorically.

Within this body of work, there is a constant self-referential aspect, relating both to the artist’s life and ancestry, and to past paintings and sculpture.