Artworks are placed in different rooms in dialogue with the space: a gold-plated bronze poo called everyday happiness, 2016, sits in the bathroom and, in a room overlooking the magnificent gardens, a tapestry of a serpent and an apple, conjuring both Adam and Eve as well as any snakes potentially outside.
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A few fallen leaves, made from hand-forged steel, also complete with happy faces, are scattered on the floor of the main room downstairs, as though they’ve blown in from outside. Hanging from the trees visible from that same room, are a series of smiling ghosts, swinging in the wind.
Nell uses an array of media: bronze, earthenware, painting, tapestry, mosaic, textiles, steel and glass. There is nothing screen-based or electronic.
“I just think it’s much more interesting … I want for myself and for others to use the senses. There’s a lot of natural objects, thinking about the inside and the outside; really that is the thing that’s going to save us all, using our senses. So it’s about facing everything, it’s very intentional.”
While touring the show for this article, Nell moves a table holding a number of works and the leg gives way, causing the artworks to slide to the floor. Remarkably, many remain intact, but one ceramic is in pieces. It’s a moment of calamity for any artist to witness their carefully crafted work smash, but Nell regains her composure quickly, quipping, “Face everything hey, that’s it right there!”
Work by Sydney-based artist Nell: blue and gold ones without number (coming and going) 2008.
Sanctuary and relationships are conjured throughout: in one room, Mother and child #3, 2025, a hand-blown glass ghost alongside a smaller “mini me” version, nestled in a beautifully crafted nest of branches, is so evocative it almost makes you weep.
At other times, the show is laugh-out-loud funny, especially the reimagined domestic objects that become characters, from a shovel sitting outside to a pair of expressive violins to the upside-down happy bucket.
A life-size bronze cast from the artist’s body sitting in the lotus position is a striking highlight in one of the bedrooms, with tree branches from hand-forged stainless steel as arms, and red glass ghosts hanging off each. Part of the National Portrait Gallery’s collection, it’s called Self-nature is subtle and mysterious – Tree Woman / Woman Tree 2023.
A new work Nell created with Brisbane-based Girramay/Yidinyji/Kuku Yalanji artist Tony Albert was unveiled at QAGOMA this month.
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Continuing Australia’s tradition of big things, it’s a sculpture called The Big Hose, a huge 119-metre garden hose. Sitting outside Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art on the banks of the river, it doubles as a play thing for kids.
The Heide show is a career highlight for Nell. “To have a solo show at Heide Modern is beyond my wildest dreams and I’m pinching myself … It was a home built for art, and art really sings in here.”
Face Everything is at Heide Museum of Modern Art from October 11 to March 1, 2026.
