Gentle Decay

Eva Bartels draws what the body remembers and what it carries forward. Her series titled Gentle Decay, observes the female body through cyclical processes of change. The drawings emerge from within those bodily transitions, through a material the body itself offers up. ‘When I used a menstrual cup for the first time and looked at the blood, I knew: this was the medium. I dipped my brush into it and the images started pouring out of me.’ For Bartels, menstrual blood is not a provocation, but a form of knowledge. ‘It is information. It carries the story of the body: what it has held, endured, released and survived.’

With these works, Bartels creates a space for shared stories and embodied knowledge among women, and among all those who recognise themselves in the work. ‘I want other women to feel less alone in what their bodies go through,’ she says. For her, both the female body and the work are a portal – for life, for death, for grief and for return.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Eva Bartels is an artist and actor. She mainly uses materials that originate from nature and her rituals, such as the ceremonies in which she buries herself in the earth. From this, the clay – infused with her breath and warmth – became both material and witness of the paintings on the table linen of the 10 year anniversary diner of See All This on 6 December 2025.

Bartels is currently working on Mothers of Art, a project at the intersection of visual art, theatre and performance, focusing on ten female artists throughout history, including Leonora Carrington, Irma Stern and Ana Mendieta. In this series, Bartels responds to their artistic legacy through her own body and visual language – an act of homage, research and personal transformation.