Concealed within the structural beams of the gallery and the university where she studied and found her voice as an artist, Woolley crafted a delicate installation using her own discarded medication foil wrappers. She shredded the foils, as if they were confidential waste, before carefully gluing them back together using jewellery glue, then propping them within the supporting pillars of the gallery. This act of reconstruction served as both a visual juxtaposition and a deeply personal therapeutic reflection, one in which words often fail her. The foils came from medication that she has taken daily since her late teens to help manage bipolar disorder.

Fragile and discreet, yet placed in a public setting, the installation evoked discomfort, challenging notions of appropriateness, vulnerability, stigma, taboo and internalised shame. Also hidden within the beams were a series of small nests created from the shredded strips, each containing marbles carefully placed inside that could easily collapse under the viewers gaze.

Photography: Rob Maclese