Material Elegies:
States of Becoming
Headline group exhibition at Tina Skukan Gallery featuring works from Metamorphosis, Spectral Taxonomy and the debut of What Remains.
28 June – 23 July 2026
FEATURED BODY OF WORK
LIMINAL SPECIMENS I–XV
Spectral Taxonomy – Marine Elegies
Liminal Specimens I–XV presents fifteen paper-based studies developed as part of the ongoing Spectral Taxonomy series. Constructed from layered Hahnemühle paper, vellum, embossing, staining, and controlled material disruption, each specimen examines a distinct state of ecological transformation.
Arranged as a taxonomic field, the works move from mineral silence and early bleaching through residual colour, dissolution, and spectral memory. Together they function as an archive of material responses to environmental loss, where paper becomes both witness and record.
SERIES
Investigations across personal and ecological systems through fragile material structures.
Material Elegies is an ongoing artistic framework examining how memory, grief, and environmental loss can be translated into material form. Each body of work investigates a different system – personal, marine, botanical, and glacial – through materials chosen for their symbolic and physical resonance.
Three current investigations form the foundation of this research.
Metamorphosis
Personal Elegies
Personal grief translated through
origami butterfly installations.
Spectral Taxonomy
Marine Elegies
Coral bleaching rendered
through layered paper lamellae.
What Remains
Botanical Elegies
Painted surfaces exploring
botanical disappearance and fragility.
THE ARTIST
Stephen Russell-Brett is a material-based contemporary artist whose work investigates loss, memory, and ecological transformation through fragile and responsive surfaces. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, he continues to work between South Africa and Dublin, Ireland.
Developed between studios in Pretoria and Dublin, the work reflects ongoing research into environmental systems and material responses to ecological change.
His practice forms part of the ongoing framework Material Elegies, where vulnerable materials translate personal grief and ecological testimony into visual form. Through paper sculpture, photography, painting, and moving image, the work explores how absence can be made visible through surfaces that erode, fracture, and transform over time.
Russell-Brett describes this approach as – documentation as lament – a methodology where scientific record, lived experience, and material fragility converge.
DOCUMENTATION
Artist books, catalogue publications, and visual archives documenting the development of the Material Elegies practice.
SELECTED CRITICAL RESPONSE
” Stephen Russell-Brett’s multimedia and origami installations are a true celebration of cross-disciplinary exploration. The seamless integration of various mediums, from paper and digital artworks to video projection, creates an immersive and thought-provoking experience that challenges the viewer’s perception of art. “
RICHARD NGUYEN | 理查德·阮
Art Critic – Tokyo Contemporary Review
STUDIO NOTES
Receive slow dispatches from the studio
Occasional reflections from the studio – new works, research developments, exhibitions, and ongoing investigations within the Material Elegies framework.
STUDIO FRAGMENTS
#stephenrussellbrettart #srb #stephenrussellbrett
