SPOTLIGHT: Denise Harrison/ Marcelina Amelia

Phoenix Art Space is hosting another of its regular Spotlight Talks soon, this time featuring two of their resident studio artists: Denise Harrison and Marcelina Amelia. These talks are designed to give the Phoenix community a chance to hear directly from the artists about their current work and practice in an informal setting. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, February 17, 2026, running from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM GMT, though the doors and bar open at 6:00 PM, with the main discussion starting shortly after. It takes place in the White Room at the Phoenix Art Space on Waterloo Place. While the event is free, it requires booking, and the tickets are currently listed as ‘Sold out’ on Eventbrite, so if you managed to snag one, you’re in luck.

Denise Harrison, known locally as a painter working across landscape and figurative styles, will be focusing her talk on a specific figurative project. This work delves into themes of memory, loss, and place. She uses the structure of the 'Siete Sacramentos' (Seven Sacraments) as a framework to document family milestones, tracing events from her own birth right up to the death of her mother. She explores these memories and old photographs through painting, sometimes even re-imagining the events themselves. This ties into her broader practice, which also focuses on landscape and conservation, investigating human interference in the environment.

Sharing the stage is Marcelina Amelia, a multidisciplinary artist originally from Częstochowa, Poland, now based here in Brighton. Marcelina’s work is incredibly varied, spanning painting, printmaking, textiles, installation, and performance. Drawing heavily on her Polish heritage, her themes are complex and personal, touching on migration, motherhood, mental health, feminism, spirituality, and personal rituals. She is also the founder of the feminist art incubator Grupa Łono and recently self-published the book Mamalia in 2024. Her focus is often on the transformative power of storytelling and the nature of memory, both personal and collective. For those attending, it’s useful to know that Phoenix Art Space is generally accessible on the ground floor, including the galleries, café, and toilets, though the artists’ studios themselves are only reachable via stairs.