Destructuralism is, more than a movement, a state of mind: the desire to decompose the “given” in order to create a “to-be-made” that can become a critique of our time, both past and present. This process of deconstruction and reconstruction applies equally to literature and the visual arts, in search of a modus vivendi that does not conform to the mainstream logic of expressive harmlessness, but instead has the courage to go beyond it.
This approach runs through the paintings that Mary Blindflowers presents at Parndon Mill, created between 2024 and 2026. The works belong to a relatively short period of time, yet they allow us to observe a process in which painting is not used merely as a representational surface. Rather, the image becomes a field of tension: a structure that can be constructed, altered and broken down again in order to provoke reflection in the viewer. The figure, far removed from classical formal perfection, is not necessarily the final destination of the work, but the starting point from which thought is activated, allowing the viewer to become the protagonist. The image is, in fact, the means through which representation itself enters into crisis.
There is no art of consolation or idyll here, because identity—the theme of the exhibition—is undoubtedly the result of a series of superimpositions, learned codes and imposed gender roles, as highlighted by the six-canvas work The Prepackaged Tree of Life for Man and Woman. Family, society and language therefore constitute not merely a backdrop, but actively participate in the formation of the individual image. Destructuralism intervenes precisely on this terrain, questioning the stability of meanings that appear to have already been acquired and taken for granted.
Alongside the paintings, the exhibition presents four glass sculptures made using a mixed technique combining sandcasting and blown glass. These works do not limit themselves to being “ornamental”, that is, to enhancing the aesthetic qualities of glass, but demand meaning. Glass is no longer merely surface, transparency or precious material; it becomes a vehicle for meaning. The works do not simply illustrate the theme of identity: they call its underlying assumptions into question.
It is from this core that the dialogue with the other artist in the exhibition, Anne von Westphalen, takes shape. Double Agents, in fact, becomes a comparison between two different ways of intervening in the image: not a celebration of the individual artists, but the juxtaposition of two practices that examine, from different perspectives, how identity is constructed and made legible.
Double Agents — Anne von Westphalen & Mary Blindflowers
Parndon Mill Gallery, Harlow, Essex
20 September – 1 November 2026
Curated by The Bonacci Gallery, Berlin, in collaboration with The Gallery, Parndon Mill.