The exhibition reveals a constant theme within Bertola’s work by drawing on the historic role of women and craft production. Through a collection of new and existing works Bertola celebrates the skill and beauty prevalent to historical genres of craft and the decorative arts, and draws upon a legacy of collective struggle of women; and the presence of personal triumph and liberation that is often overlooked by history.

Unseen by all but me alone consists of a series of delicate handmade golden cobwebs that infiltrate the nooks and crannies of the bare and empty gallery space. With its roots in the origins of female labour the title is taken from a song, sung by Habetrot (a mythological figure in Anglo-Celtic folklore associated with spinning and healing and symbolised by the spinning wheel, wool, and the spiders web) in the story of Habetrot and the Scantlie Mab, a pagan tale that uses spinning as a metaphor and measure for a woman’s virtue. Bertola’sdelicately spun webs reclaim space from the absence of human activity, and through their material value announce both a relationship with organic creation associated with neglect and the passing of time, and a celebration of luxury and silent splendour.