Sian Williams
she/her
Behind Windows and Walls
I have been writing letters to places that shape me. This body of work is a long letter, one of gratitude, of confusion, of fear and uncertainty.
Influenced by Gaston Bachelard's 'The Poetics of Space', I began to build houses around these places, searching to create and share a poetic image. Working out of desperation to hold onto the time encased within these rooms, the resulting paintings feel fragile, on the verge of collapse. They are small windows painted quickly, filled with the figures and furniture of my world.
The paintings exist outside of the past and present, as the true poetic image breaks with linear time, it is surprising and disruptive. They surround you and allow you entry to this new space: one that exists physically in the paintings hanging before you, and also an imaginative space, as you occupy the paintings moving through doors, windows, and unpainted space.
Round the Table, 2025, oil on canvas, 70 x 119cm
Behind Windows and Walls, NCAD Works 2025 exhibition, installation view
Behind Windows and Walls, NCAD Works 2025 exhibition, installation view
Cage match with the sky, 2025, oil on canvas, 70 x 119cm
and now, I'm in the dream place, 2025, oil on canvas, 25.5 x 35.5cm
Rearranging, a dance around the piano, 2025, oil on canvas, 81 x 60.5cm
Piecing windows back together, 2025, oil on canvas, 100 x 80cm
Behind Windows and Walls, NCAD Works 2025 exhibition, installation view
Behind Windows and Walls, NCAD Works 2025 exhibition, installation view
Beneath Windows and Walls, NCAD Works 2025 exhibition, installation view
Research
Studio shot by Ewan Power