London based multimedia artist Nicole Wassall looks to myths and legends as well as modern history to question the nature of our world today. Magic, Mischief & Mayhem includes wands, mobiles, coins, and video utilizing wood, gold and semi precious stones. The pieces tell intricately different stories reflecting the cultures behind them, and in doing so reminds us that human experience is inherently universal, regardless of how one culture compares to another.

The focus of the exhibition is her wands, inspired by the legends of the trees they are sourced from. The Wishing Wand is beech. The Queen of British trees, it is traditionally used in medicine and associated with folk magic, creativity and opening communication channels. As the first tree to show life after a forest fire it symbolizes beginnings and importantly, if you write a wish on a stick of beech and bury it, your wish will come true. The Black Pearl is about love, with silver birch’s associations with Venus entwined by honeysuckle, a vine with links to sweetness, love, sexuality and luck. The black pearl embedded in its end symbolizes hope for wounded souls and links to a legend from Ceylon, about Adam and Eve’s tears turning into pearls. The Seven Sisters references what is believed to be the oldest story still told, variously relayed throughout different cultures. The wand is made of eucalyptus and references the Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime story of seven sisters who are pursued by a male predator and end up as the seven sister stars. Similar stories are told in the North American Kiowa tribe, Hindu legend and Greek Mythology; seven women pursued and ending up as seven stars, in what is more commonly known as the Pleiades constellation.

Each piece in this collection pays homage to its originating culture, while the combination of objects and stories provide space for insights into understanding the nature of things. Wassall says “we pick and chose what fits our predicaments and, while there are political statements embedded into these decisions, the work reflects on our way of being”

Wassall’s work has been exhibited in Great Britain and throughout Europe, Hong Kong, Australia, and America. She completed an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in London, has been shortlisted for numerous awards such as Clifford Chance Sculpture Award, Saatchi Sensations and included in various competitive exhibitions. Her work has been covered by World of Interiors, Arts and Collections, Apollo, Arte por Excelencais, among others. She will be speaking on a panel at London Art Fair (January 2022) on the Female Shape of Activism.