Conversations en Plein Air was first shown at the Ariana Museum in 2023. It presents a playful analogy between French 18th century ‘Fêtes galantes’ paintings, Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe and the picnic as a pertinent metaphor for our experience during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic altered our relationship to the indoors as a claustrophobic, constraining space that was alleviated by the limited, and therefore heightened experience of the outdoors. The subtext to the picnic is that of women making contact, endeavouring through various means, such as mobile phones, paper aeroplanes and megaphones to communicate with each other from afar. Depicted on tableware, vases and in papercuts, they appear marooned as if on small islands.Their desire and ability to partake in such seemingly informal gatherings is disrupted by their need to make contact beyond their immediate environment.