No One Knows I'm Dying: Solo Exhibition, Turntable Gallery, Grimsby

Eyres’ methodology includes the collection of source imagery from cosmetology and dermatology books that feature extreme close-up photographs women’s faces and the backs of anonymous women’s heads. Her source material also included first -aid manuals from the 1980s that depict figures in states of physical distress and assisted by disembodied hands, portrayed by actors. Eyres selects, scans, closely-crops and edits these photographs, and paints them using realist techniques. The resulting paintings instigate an extreme sense of closeness to the subjects and present moments from incomplete narratives that appear psychologically charged.

The paintings are exhibited alongside ceramic works that are based on mundane objects such as deflated balloons with happy faces, cigarette butts in an ashtray and a ham sandwich. These works are hand sculpted and glaze using a combination underglazes and clear glaze.

The gallery is situated in a former fish factory and makes use of several small rooms that feature distinct groupings of paintings and ceramics. By drawing together these distinct bodies, the exhibition becomes charged with psychological strands which alludes to various states of life and mortality. The realist techniques and extreme close ups show a critical scrutiny of the face and hair, as if these are being examined. The exhibition title is ambiguous and humorously alludes to the denial of inevitable death.