The delicate installation features a modified snail shell, meticulously drilled to create tiny perforations. Illuminated from within with a small light, the shell is placed inside a tube, concealed within a gallery wall. First exhibited in Woolley’s 2010 degree show and later touring to the Cube Gallery, Manchester, the installation has since appeared in numerous exhibitions, including Life, The Universe and Everything in Chester, where it won first prize.

The work has been modified in 2025 for 'Remember Nature' at Castlefield Gallery New Art Spaces: Chester, in which the viewer peers through a spy hole concealed within the gallery wall - so subtle that you might miss it.

As a pivotal work in Woolley’s artistic journey, this piece encapsulates her love of fragile natural materials, reinterpreting them through a deeply poetic and philosophical lens.

The title, Helix, references both the Latin word for galaxy and Helix Aspersa, the scientific name for the garden snail. The work explores the interplay between the microcosm and the macrocosm, suggesting how one can be reflected within the other through the spiral theory and the golden ratio. The tube in which the shell is sited functions as both a microscope, peering into the smallest forms of life, and a telescope, gazing into the vastness of the cosmos, questioning the intricate pattern of interconnection.

"Ideas are to objects as constellations are to stars." Walter Benjamin

Available as a single or triptych of signed open-edition matt giclée prints (50 x 40 cm).
UK orders only.
For enquiries or to purchase, please contact: studio@estellewoolley.com
Please allow up to 4 weeks for delivery.