Jarvis’s exhibition The sword doesn’t drop reimagines the ancient metaphor of the Sword of Damocles through the lens of chronic pain.
Across fourteen oil paintings and a field of suspended cement swords, metaphors of pain—often sharp, looming, and fearful—are rendered visible, solid, and still. Balancing figuration and suggestion, Jarvis’s practice explores how visual culture shapes the language of pain, proposing new images that soften inherited narratives. In doing so, the exhibition opens a space where danger can be seen, acknowledged, and held without falling.
Artwork:
Savannah Jarvis
Untitled, 2025
oil on polycotton
150 x 120 cm
