Belfry Exhibition – DELPHYNE by Rosie Dahlstrom

‘You are standing in a cold, dark alley. There is no noise, no wind; only silence and stillness. You look around and find yourself in front of a dingy staircase leading down to a basement door. Empty cigarette packets are littered over the metal steps; weeds grow out of the vandalised brick walls. At the bottom of the steps, you see a door. There is a strange pale glow around the door, leaking from the sides and underneath. In the gloom, you can just make out two words written on the stone above the door: ‘The Unborn’.

Suddenly, you hear a clink of metal. You look again into the shadows and see a silver chain; it is attached to the wrist of a strange creature. At first glance it looks like a woman; she stares blankly ahead of her, unaware of your presence. She has long, red hair and white skin; an unlit cigarette in her hand. You see a glitter of gold: a sword lies next to her. Your eyes are growing accustomed to the half-light; you’re shocked to discover that below the waist she has the body of a great, golden lizard: you see a long tail covered in spines; scaly feet with sharp black claws.

Your heart thumps harder and harder in your chest. She looks up; she sees you.’

Rosie Dahlstrom is an emerging artist from Glasgow currently living and working in London, and studying for an MA at Chelsea College of Arts. ‘Delphyne‘ is a solo presentation of a body of work exploring the character of the sacred female; imagining the contemporary face of an ancient story through collage, projection and writing.

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