Echo's Bones

Elizabeth Xi Bauer presents Echo’s Bones, a multifaceted solo exhibition by Petra Feriancová at the gallery’s Exmouth Market space. Bringing together newly developed works alongside recontextualised earlier pieces, the exhibition unfolds as a constellation of objects, images, and sonic interventions that reflect  Feriancová’s longstanding interest in origins, be them mythological, biological, or archaeological. 

Feriancová’s practice spans photography, sculpture, and installation, combining personal archives with everyday materials. Subtle acts of transformation are key: household objects and found materials are quietly reframed and juxtaposed, taking on new significance without spectacle. Through these interventions, she examines how objects, images, and histories are shaped by cultural bias and collective assumption, revealing meaning as something continually negotiated rather than inherent. 

The exhibition’s title references both the myth of Echo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which tells the story of a nymph who is unseen yet heard, and Samuel Beckett’s poem Echo’s Bones (1933), which meditates on absence, repetition, and the persistence of voice after the body has vanished. From these dual inspirations, Feriancová explores mirroring, mimicry, motherhood, solitude, and ageing, extending a core concern in her practice: the proposition of motherhood as fundamental to all life. She also examines cultural-historical tensions, contrasting the material authority of the reliquary with the fluid worlds of myth and folktale.

Echo’s Bones brings together new and previous works, exploring how shifts in context reshape meaning. Highlights include the Carrara marble bones from Echo’s Bones; vintage photographs reflecting intimacy and absence; and objects ranging from swordfish bills and shells to children’s teeth and found vessels. Feriancová introduces site-specific interventions, including a sketch on the gallery window and a draped fabric dress extending into the installation. Curved metal structures hold printed fabrics depicting algae and mimosa plants, while a water tank sound installation, developed in collaboration with composer Stroon, distorts sound to explore echo, vibration, and the sensory politics of perception. Other works reference literary and cultural narratives, such as Don’t Turn Back (2004-2026), which parallels The Little Mermaid through themes of voicelessness and vulnerability, and Vertebra (2022), an audio-visual project examining the intrusion of architecture into space. Newly developed works made with Victorian tiles evoke British utilitarian aesthetics, creating a dialogue between historical forms and contemporary interventions. 

Rather than following a linear narrative, the exhibition unfolds as a constellation of distinct works distributed throughout the gallery. Each piece stands on its own while also existing in relation to others, forming a quilt-like exhibition in which meaning emerges through the interplay of objects. Together, the works suggest that while each of us has an individual existence and narrative, we are also part of something larger and shared.