Susan Cianciolo

“While you live, shine

Life exists only for a short while

and time demands its due”

—200BC Epitaph of Seikiles

For her solo show at the South London Gallery, American artist Susan Cianciolo presents an installation across two floors of the Fire Station, inviting visitors into her unique creative world.

Drawing together elements inspired by craft, fashion and daily domestic life, Cianciolo intuitively combines all sorts of materials, from fabric off-cuts, buttons and glue, through to cardboard boxes, diary pages and her young daughter’s drawings, into works in which the seemingly casual and low-fi nature of their construction is at odds with the precision with which they are composed.

The works in the show are selected from several different groups – Mannequins, Kits, Tapestries and Games – but are clearly part of a single, overarching project. Cianciolo’s very particular sensibility is both intimate and generous, inspired by her daily life as an artist and mother, but equally by her deep spirituality.