Now You See Her, Now You Don’t is an exhibition of sculptural works made with domestic objects and materials sourced from flea markets and second-hand shops across Europe that come together in the gallery space to offer holistic narrative interpretation.

The exhibition comprises of a series of conceptually connected free-standing and wall-based works that materialise Chambers ongoing conceptual concern with the historical, social and cultural relationship between women and the spaces and objects of home. The title of this exhibition, Now You See Her, Now You Don’t, references the sleight-of-hand techniques used by stage magicians when things are made to disappear then reappear. Yet it also has wider connotations, for example the unseen reproductive labour undertaken women within the home, the invisibility of women in collective consciousness as they age, and the forced disappearance of women and girls, most usually into some form of sexual slavery.

This body of work prompts the viewer to ask complicated questions about the relationship that women and girls have with the materials, objects and spaces of home, the works appear to imply narrative yet remain ambiguous as to what kinds of stories these might be. But these works are also visually engaging, viewers recognise and identify with the domestic materiality used, and as such can imagine themselves as the protagonist in these stories.

The oxidised copper crinoline of The Gather is an interactive work; it has a gap at the back that allows visitors to stand inside the sculpture as if they were wearing it as a skirt. Without an occupant this object still has autonomous presence, it appears to reference the heavy and unwieldy clothing worn by women in the past, yet the wearer has disappeared leading to questions about who this might have been, where she may have gone, and to what end. To help answer these questions the viewer can put themselves in her place, Now You See Her, Now You Don’t.