What happens when we feel, accept and authentically express our pain? In 'Deep Loner' Caitlin Möhr considers uncomfortable emotion as a teacher, offering insight into self-understanding, authenticity and purpose.

'Deep Loner', a solo exhibition of paintings, sculpture and written word by Caitlin Möhr, considers loneliness as a powerful emotion which can prevent us from engaging with ourselves and those around us in authentic and meaningful ways. The work offers insight into the experience of feeling separate from the world and each other, inspiring open acknowledgement of deep feelings and encouraging authentic expression of emotion. Inspired by her participation in a Deep Ecology Course in Thailand, coupled with practices of self-inquiry, Deep Loner takes us on a journey through pain, from it's awareness, acceptance and understanding of what it is protecting, and why. The work challenges viewers to acknowledge emotion and to connect meaningfully with their environment through authentic expression of personal experience. As many of us continue to navigate the challenges of our rapidly changing world, it is exhibitions like this that serve as beacons of hope and inspiration, reminding us of the power of art to provoke thought, evoke emotion, and encourage lasting connections.

This body of work builds on Möhr's debut solo exhibition “An Introspective Journey” held in 2022 for SALA Festival, which considered self-investigation as a path to seeing behind our false identities…’Deep Loner’ is a shedding of this mask.

To offer an experiential reference point to the work, a workshop will be held in the gallery space on Saturday August 24, introducing the practice of Deep Ecology and offering insight into the artist's inspiration and creative processes.

A message from the artist:
Over the past few years I have been actively questioning my place in the world, how I relate to my environment and how I can have a positive impact on my environment and community. Last year this deep questioning brought me to an eco-farm in northeast Thailand, a place that nurtured my connection to self, others and the natural environment through intentional living, learning from nature’s organisation and serious contemplation. I participated in a 5-day Deep Ecology Course, an experience that guided me back to my deepest values...after analysing my lifestyle back home I recognised that a personal barrier preventing me from aligning with these values was feeling separated from the world and people around me. I felt deeply alone, regardless of my circle of close friends and family. I noticed that I had been compartmentalising and trying to overcome this emotion, rather than acknowledging and feeling the associated pain and discomfort it initiated. There was a distance between the physical experience of feeling this way and any potential insight it had to offer. Once I opened the door to this feeling it stepped in, and I became aware of the emotion and its affect on me. This perspective gave me more empathy for myself and those around me. I recognised so many of us long to feel connected and a part of community, and oftentimes compromise our peace by engaging with unimportant or even detrimental things as an attempt to feel valued and integrated.

Deep Loner seeks to expose the philosophy and practice of Deep Ecology, whilst uncovering the purity of emotion through thought-provoking, emotive and deeply personal work in a contemplative safe space.