The Grotto

Curated by Ashleigh Jones, The Grotto presents the work of Sydney-based Russian artist of Tatar heritage Érresh (Ruslan Reshetov).

The exhibition’s title evokes the grotto as a private, submerged, and hidden space within our interior lives, a space of retreat where the self can be encountered more freely. It reflects the ways queer experience has often required navigating spaces where aspects of identity remain in the shadows. Historically, grottos were not only natural caves but also elaborate, concealed retreats built within Baroque palaces, including those of queer monarchs, where one could luxuriate among fountains, water deities, and theatrical excess.

Érresh’s work embraces the unfolding of this interior world through imagery informed by myth, philosophy, and consciousness. Spanning painting, sculpture, video, and performance, his practice frequently draws on mythological figures and deities, employing materials as varied as stone and bone to create works that traverse the ancient and the contemporary, the symbolic and the personal.

Ashleigh Jones is the Curator at Fairfield City Museum & Gallery and was one of the three founding Directors and Curators of Passage Gallery in Sydney’s Chinatown. Jones first curated The Grotto for the Sydney office of the international law firm Clifford Chance as part of Pride Month, and is now delighted to present this body of work to a wider public audience in collaboration with 8 Wall Gallery.