What if the very things we’re told are “too much” — the brightness, the passion, the sensitivity, the joy — are actually our superpowers? This exhibition explores the tension between authentic expression and societal comfort, asking why emotional intensity is so often treated as something to contain, moderate, or mute.

Through large-scale paintings, sculptural forms, and immersive installation, Patricia Sheldon-Hicks creates spaces that question what we lose when we shrink ourselves to fit, and what we might reclaim if we stop censoring what makes us vivid. The work invites viewers to step into a world where colour isn’t dimmed, joy isn’t measured, and feeling deeply isn’t a flaw but a strength. These pieces are physical, emotional, and sensory — each one holding space for messy honesty, expansive energy, and the full spectrum of being.

Patricia is a British Expressionist artist. Born in Rhodesia and later displaced during its transition to Zimbabwe, she moved with her family to the UK, where she studied Art, Design, Photography, and Textiles at Colchester School of Art. She also graduated with First Class honours from the Italia Conti School of Acting and worked across acting, costume, photography, and fine art — a multidisciplinary background that deeply informs her current practice.

Now based in Oxfordshire, Patricia works from her studio overlooking her garden, creating intuitive and playful work across painting, sculpture, and installation. Her large-scale canvases are built up with layers of acrylic, often applied and scraped back with antique trowels — tools that carry their own silent stories. Movement, light, texture, and energy pulse through her work, shaped by her background in physical theatre and a deep interest in capturing the feeling of motion and transformation.

Her installations and sculptural pieces further explore themes of containment, identity, and resistance, often using mirrors, iridescent materials, and symbolic objects to reflect on what it means to be almost oneself in a world that prefers neatness over truth. She draws inspiration from the colours of deep space, the shimmer of underwater worlds, and the unseen terrains of inner life — creating vibrant portals to places where nothing needs to be toned down to belong.