Sixteen-Year-Old’s Emotional Art Exhibition Explores Grief Like You’ve Never Seen Before

Exhibition in Truro opens for one day only on 23rd June

Sixteen-year-old artist Quinn Brewer is preparing to showcase her latest body of work in a special exhibition titled “Seconds, Minutes, Hours” at Art-K Truro this June. The exhibition forms part of her Silver Art Award and will be open to the press and public for two one-hour viewings on Monday 23rd June 2025, from 13:30 to 14:30 and again from 18:00 to 19:00.

The exhibition will be held at Art-K Truro, Unit 4 Barras Moor Farm, Perranarworthal, Truro, TR3 7PE.

Exploring Grief Through Art

Quinn is a student on the pre-16 provision at Truro College and has been working with Sara Aziz, host of Art-K Truro, since September 2022. After moving to Cornwall in May 2022, Quinn joined Art-K while being home educated and completed her Bronze Art Award in February this year.

In “Seconds, Minutes, Hours”, Quinn delves into the experience of grief, which she began processing after the loss of her grandmother during the first COVID lockdown.

“My Grandma passed away from cancer during the first covid lockdown and I suffered with this very heavily,” Quinn said. “The circumstances around her death were incredible difficult and due to government policy at the time I wasn’t allowed in the nursing home to see her to say my goodbyes. Having been denied the chance to do this has, I believe, has elongated the grieving process for me significantly.”

Quinn added, “Everyone at some point in their lives will experience grief in some shape or form, and it has been explored heavily in art for decades. However, everyone experiences it differently, after all it is just a different version of love. This collection is my take on the clinical stages of grief, with an added 6th stage of Revenge, something I felt a desperate need for during my own personal grieving process.”

Personal Meaning Behind Every Piece

Quinn’s collection features work that draws deeply from her own experiences and surroundings. The centrepiece of the exhibition is a white poly-silk gown, hand beaded and accompanied by a handmade beaded body jewellery piece.

“The largest piece in this collection, a white poly-silk gown with hand beaded applique and a handmade beaded ‘body jewellery’ piece, is by far my favourite project in this collection. The dress took over 40 hours to complete and was made entirely by me, from the custom patten to the final beading work. It has been the most rewarding and challenging project to complete in the collection. It represents the 5th stage of grief, Acceptance, and has been named ‘the Amelia dress’ after my grandmas middle name and the name she used to sign all her own paintings with.”

The exhibition’s title reflects Quinn’s thoughts on how time and grief are often misaligned.

“The title of the Exhibition ‘Seconds, Minutes, Hours’ is a nod to the difficulty of putting a time frame on the grieving process. Using linear measurements such as seconds, minutes or hours is a way of humans trying to rationalise and cope with difficult situations by trying to put a schedule on them. In reality, the grieving process is never as straight forward and clinical as this.”

The exhibition is free to attend and open for a limited time only.