The art of war

Inspired by her global travels, Freya Payne's last exhibition consisted of small, fragile objects delicately carved in wood and stone.

Incorporating hair and other organic materials, the objects were displayed in glass cases and clearly suggested anthropological curiosities and strange fetish objects.

While the mood was playful and light, there has been a shift towards the elegiac with Payne's latest exhibition. As its title suggests, the works deal with issues of loss, and also remind us of perhaps a primal need to bear witness to the past.

Though references remain oblique, the exhibition is largely inspired by the war in Iraq.

The main piece consists of a funerary scene in which a long oak table is flanked by rows of portraits on either wall.

The portraits act as witnesses, gazing down at a pair of carved feet at one end and a bowl containing broken sculptural fragments which stand in for the head, at the other.

It's a poetic invocation of the terrible acts of violence enacted on the body.

In the piece that lends its name to the exhibition, a vest-like form, again carved from solid oak, is studded with smooth quartz pebbles. The pale stones frame either side of the garment, resembling buttons or teeth, while in its slightly dipped centre the wood is intricately carved with a decorative pattern, perhaps reminiscent of the shape of a tongue. The work speaks eloquently of that which might be said to remain unspeakable.

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