Lauren Wolfer, Registrar
She’s back! For the first time, after being included in several group shows and a traveling exhibit, FWMoA will be showcasing an exhibit of Kirsty Mitchell photographs. Works from the permanent collection, plus two loans from her brand-new series, Quiescence, in The Spellbound Spirit: Photographs by Kirsty Mitchell, are on view now through April 26th, 2026.
Graduating from the London College of Fashion and Ravensbourne College of Art in both costume and fashion design, Mitchell began her career interning for Avant Garde designers Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, equipping herself with bold visuals that continue to inspire her. She worked as a fashion designer for over a decade before the passing of her mother jolted her life in a new direction.
On a visit back home to visit her terminal mother, she picked up a camera again to “escape when the words ran out and the days became too long.” Photography became a way for Mitchell to run away into the garden, into her dreams, avoiding reality. She created a small series of seven images, one for every day she had spent at home with her mother.
Her mother passed away in November and the following September, Mitchell began the immense and emotional series, Wonderland. Navigating through her grief, she designed dream-like worlds inspired by the stories her mother read to her as a child. She spent months handcrafting costumes and props, as well as scouting shooting sites throughout the English landscape; each image built to reflect her care to the smallest details. The series became her autobiography, with the model reflecting Mitchell’s emotional state while dealing with her grief.
While creating the series, Mitchell amassed a global fan base, becoming a viral sensation and international coverage. With the support of her fan base (myself included!), she launched a Kickstarter campaign to produce the Wonderland book, coming full circle from the books she read with her mother. Her Kickstarter became the most funded photobook campaign in crowdfunding history, providing her with all the resources to produce a book fulfilling her expectations, now in its third edition. FWMoA will have information on how to purchase the Wonderland book through the run of the exhibit in the Paradigm Gallery.
Following the success of Wonderland and the birth of her son, Mitchell herself was diagnosed with cancer. Her son was only eight months old at the time. What followed was what she describes as the darkest time in her life, undergoing five grueling years of treatment and all the side effects that come with it. Her transition to motherhood had been difficult, but suddenly any kind of future seemed unimaginable. She says, “The paradox of creating life within my body, only to be questioning my own mortality within a matter of months led me back to the woodlands where I had originally grieved for my mother.” Her spiritual connection to the trees and their branches became the literal roots which held her steadfast through this period.
Yet again, Mitchell turned to photography and her creative background, beginning the planning of her new series, Quiescence, her most ambitious work to date. The title comes from its meaning, referring to a prolonged period of quietness or stillness; she herself became dormant, waiting and hoping for a time when she could return to normalcy.
The first three images from Quiescence, two of which will be on display, reverberate her strong connection to nature, featuring a pregnant figure deep in the woods. The portrait in The Constellation of You contemplates the first time she found out she was pregnant and the silent moment between a mother and her unborn child. Mitchell reflects on the body’s change during this time, the shape and stretch, with a glowing constellation of shimmering cells, growing and multiplying.
Kirsty Mitchell is now seven years clear of her breast cancer and off all medication. She lives and works in the Surrey, England countryside with her husband and son.
A story of maternal power, life, and mortality paired with her signature fantastical visuals, the exhibition at FWMoA will be the first time any works from the Quiescence series are on view in the United States.
The Spellbound Spirit: Photographs from Kirsty Mitchell will be on view from January 17th, 2026 – April 26th, 2026.
Source:
https://www.kirstymitchell.art/about/, Wonderland book, and text provided by Kirsty.