In the painting of Vanessa Chrystie, the act of questioning is taken to the depths of our being, our heart, our soul. In her work there are three orders of recurring images, metaphorical and symbolic - the heart, the animals (birds and insects) and the veils.

The heart, which throughout history has been considered the receptacle for the emotions, the symbol of vitality and love, and the place of the immortal soul, is by Chrystie exposed itself as a body, naked, devoid of any link, trapped, potentially in need of a metaphysical meaning. By seeking to chart a path to our innermost core, the artist creates a confrontation that results in an idea of absence.

Sometimes with no apparent link with the rest, there are small birds or insects, precariously enclosed in the whole, as a disturbing question hanging over our identity, our "soul."

And the nets or the veils, through which life passes, but never installs itself, assume a dual role, revealing more than concealing. The veil of the ordinary and recognizable is torn to reveal a doubt, the anguish, the ephemerality and the fragility.

Although the life cycle is present in her works, the natural world through which we glimpse it is haunting, ghostly, as if it was only temporarily present, waiting for the hearts to run out, dragging with them any claim to permanence or to essence.

As we approach the paintings in search of what is familiar to us, we are inevitably confronted with the fundamental questions we are asked: What are we? Who are we?