SARAH CONTOS

Employing screen-printed textiles, tufted pieces and sculptural forms, VERTICAL HOLD fractures and reanimates the cinematic picture. Drawing from 1970s and 80s film culture, Sarah Contos transforms the analogue television set, rife with visual glitches, flickers and phantom images, into both material reference and conceptual anchor. Here, visual instability becomes a metaphor for emotional slippage.

Mining the absurd and atmospheric textures of genre cinema, Contos threads together nostalgia, colour, and chaos through a performative, set-like lens. Each work channels the mood, palette and psychic residue of a specific film, creating a tactile montage that blurs comfort with unease and softness with static. In these works, the idea of ‘holding’ embodies both embrace and constraint, continuing Contos’ exploration of duality, desire and the unmoored nature of memory.