Artist: Morwenna Morrison

Morwenna Morrison’s paintings play with layering and juxtaposition to explore themes of memory, nostalgia, and the passage of time. Her work reflects on the ways we hold onto personal and shared histories to make sense of the world.

Play-Time rewinds to childhood,
the space where imagination is formed.

As children,
we make sense of the world through
repetition, play, and storytelling.
Morrison’s paintings follow a similar
rhythm—beginning with familiar
objects placed in conversation with
each other, then developing
through a playful, instinctive
process that unearths deeper connections to the past.

Using a mix of found and handmade objects, Morrison constructs tableaus that function as metaphors, cautionary tales, or surreal fragments of memory. These pieces speak both to her personal past and to universal childhood experiences. The tabletop, a recurring motif, represents the domestic world—a child’s first stage for experimenting, imagining, and making sense of reality.

Some paintings feature classical backdrops, hinting at inherited narratives and recurring themes in human history. They suggest that while societies evolve, certain lessons are either learned or lost, with echoes of the past always present in our surroundings, objects, and subconscious.

Morwenna Morrison is based in Penzance. A graduate of the Exeter College of Art and Design’s Fine Art programme (1988), she has exhibited extensively across the UK in both solo and group shows.