Language, with its idiosyncrasies and its inextricable link with cultural identity does not reveal its full colours until one is forced to learn a new language other than the mother tongue.  All associations with culture are then lost as words are pieced together to form new connections in the ever-evolving path of communication.  Superimpose that with cryptograms and we steer towards an attempt to understand the rationale for 'Post Partum', an exhibition of drawings and papier-mache by Marzena Topka-Nevin

Marzena takes a page from the dictionary with words beginning with 'post' as a starting point for a journey of imagining.  The work ranges from literal interpretations of the words (Stamp Your Feet is a charcoal drawing with postage stamps on a pair of feet; Hand Delivery is a charcoal of a hand next to an envelope) to impressions formed from connotations of words (Post Erotic is a drawing of a white envelope giving us a peep of a red interior).  The transparency of the work belies its sometime black humour as meanings of works are stretched to new limits.  Thus in Post Partum she has drawn a male and female being torn apart, while Post Natal is a little sculpture of a tiny pair of legs emerging from an envelope.  Post-Man and Post Female, two papier-mache sculptures of envelopes replacing the genitalia throws a new light on sexuality.

Perhaps of greater poignancy is Storm in a Tea Cup where a cracked teacup sits next to a letter addressed in another language.  Here one is drawn to considering the devastation that mail can bring as words on a page may carry bad news from the country of origin where the mother tongue is a language of comfort and belonging.  In grappling with a new language, focus is drawn on difference and dislocation that have to be resolved before a new identity is allowed to emerge.

This is an exhibition of an artist who travels on a path that forces us to think about our position that sits beyond the comfort zone.