Notes on the exhibition written by the artist:
"Hi, I'm Amanda. I moved to Manchester 4 years ago to pursue a career in hospitality but the pandemic had other plans. During this time I was locked away in my flat sketching, sketching.. and yep you guessed it - more sketching! However I longed to paint but my depression was unfortunately getting the best of me. Fast forward 3 years and I finally secured myself a therapist and got my mental health on the road to recovery. I adored her and quickly became dependent on our sessions.
One day, out of the blue, she announced she was going away for two weeks! My heart started to race, sweat slowly dripped down my back, my hands began to shake but she informed me to not panic and handed me a piece of paper. "This is your homework whilst I'm away" she smiled and I read it. Her 'homework' for me was to create a tree that represented my emotions, and I thought this is BS. She watched me roll my eyes and said "Don't be dismayed, you don't have to follow this to the T, use it as inspiration, to get the creative juices flowing." It was at this point a little smirk came across my face, I realised, she knew me well, she knew I'd hate this brief but also spent a good amount of time thinking about it and that's exactly where it all started happening...
Time to spill the tea:
What was supposed to be one single piece turned into ten and my now highly anticipated debut exhibition at the end of February, however I can't take the credit for that. I have a wonderful friend and after a few too many glasses of wine she encouraged me to approach Fiona, the manager of KERB.
I've named this exhibition 'The Birth of a Phoenix', as a token to my own personal journey and growth. Comparable to that of how a Phoenix is seen to rise from the ashes - this is a representation of the new me. Each piece is an exploration of both the old and new, and I greatly look forward to unveiling my artwork to everyone in the evening. I hope that my guests enjoy my artwork just as much as I enjoyed creating them over the last few years."