What happens when an artist revisits a subject they once dismissed and discovers something profoundly human within it? For Liz Gridley, still life had long felt lifeless reduced to fruit and bottles with little personal resonance until her research into end-of-life care, non-Western death rituals, and the psychology of death reshaped her perspective.
Through candid conversations, studies of life and death masks, and an honest engagement with mortality, she found new meaning in everyday objects as vessels of memory. Relics emerges from this shift, reimagining the concept beyond its traditional association with saintly remains to encompass the intimate, personal items left behind after loss. In a tribute to her grandparents, Liz transforms humble objects of an ice cream scoop, fridge magnet, water bottle, Lolly jar, and a duct-taped dictionary into a deeply affecting portraits, demonstrating how emotional connection can elevate the ordinary.
Extending this idea, the exhibition invites audiences to participate through live-painted “relic portraits,” where meaningful objects are temporarily entrusted to the artist, turning the gallery into a space of collective remembrance and reflection on what endures beyond death.
‘Relics’
Exhibition Dates: April 15 – May 10, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday April 30, 2026 | 6pm
The Victorian Artists Society
430 Albert St, East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia
About ‘Relics’
“Still life’ a subject I’ve previously lamented as boring and stale in my own artistic practice, bottles and fruit weren’t my thing. However after beginning research into end of life care, Non-Western death ritual and the psychology of death. I Investigated life and death masks, analysed new forms of body disposal, had frank conversations about death with people in my life. Tactile objects became important symbols of how we memorialise our dead. I’ve finally found something avid in relics.” – Liz Gridley
Relics, the term, in Liz Gridley’s past experience were linked solely to catholic saints’ body bits, embellished in gold and jewel for status – but Gridley now knows this is one small facet of how Relics can be viewed. Introspecting on the new knowledge Gridley paid tribute to her deceased grandparents in painting a composition of ice cream scoop, fridge magnet, water bottle, Lolly jar and dictionary (held together by duct tape). The piece following the conventions of realism completely transforming Liz’s opinions on Still Life as finding emotional connection transformed these objects into portraits of people she loves.
Relics are an important human reminder of intentionality; any object can be esteemed or venerated. These survivors of the end of a life, the cleanup and disposal after inevitable practicalities of death can bring forward our strength of our relationships and hopefully demystify death to a presence that is manageable with the support of others in our lives. Combining with Gridley’s personal explorations of Life & Death Masks, the tactility of end of life permeates this exhibition to leave the audience contemplating how they confront their own end, and what remains after death?
Throughout this exhibition, Liz Gridley will be painting commissioned relic portraits live in the gallery. “Relic items should be objects that have meaning connected to a loved one.” All relics to be painted must be received in person at VAS and will be returned to their owners with the artworks. Items are stored securely in our offices or in a closed display cabinet (if agreed) except for when being actively painted by the artist.
About Liz Gridley //
Melbourne-based realist oil painter Liz Gridley works in a space she describes as “hyper-emotion”, a heightened state of distress brought on by overstimulation and the body’s physical response to external pressures. It’s a condition that resists easy management, and rather than softening it, Gridley leans in. Since 2023, her practice has turned toward the search for shared human experiences, particularly around the inevitability of death and the often-unspoken realities of death care, territory that can be openly honored in some cultures and quietly avoided in others. In her work, these tensions become a point of entry: a way to hold space for conversations that are usually left unsaid.
Gridley’s paintings carry a sense of psychological charge, where the body becomes a site of both conflict and connection. Drawing on the visual language of high drama, she moves beyond surface-level beauty to something more unsettled and direct, inviting viewers to confront how external forces: stress, grief, memory that shape their own narratives. There’s a push and pull in her work between vulnerability and resilience, fear and acceptance, creating images that don’t just depict, but feel.
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