Haricot Gallery is thrilled to present ‘Hold Tight’ a solo presentation of new works by Ellie MacGarry.

 

‘Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth’ - Margaret Atwood

 

In this series, MacGarry’s work reflects on the nuanced and layered meanings of touch. How we touch someone offers an insight into our relationship, whether gentle, cautious, protective, or assertive. The title Hold Tight speaks to this complexity: to touch someone intimately, to hold on for security, or to clasp another in shared strength and defiance. Touch becomes both an instruction and an instinct, to embrace, or to wait. It can be a steadying force, a gesture of patience and focus, a way of waiting something out despite urgency or unease. To hold tight is to create safety in a moment of danger or uncertainty, to remain steady when everything around begins to shift.

 

A sense of tension runs through the work, found in how things are held, balanced, and contained within each composition. MacGarry’s use of flat colour adds to this restraint, shapes meet cleanly, edges are precise, and differences in tone create quiet contrasts. These choices bring focus to the relationships between forms, suggesting connection, separation, and the space that exists between them.

 

MacGarry’s paintings are made on linen, herringbone linen, and canvas. These materials bring their own presence to the surface. The weave often remains visible through the paint, giving the clothes she depicts a subtle sense of texture and weight. Through these layered surfaces, MacGarry draws attention to the material presence of clothing, as something both seen and almost felt.

 

The works presented in ‘Hold Tight’ are arranged as a continuous frieze, a horizontal line of paintings that run along the wall at the same height. Though unified in scale, their widths shift from narrow to wide, creating a visual rhythm of continuity and interruption.