Things That Keep Me Up At Night

pépite presents Things That Keep Me Up At Night, an exhibition by Melbourne artist Morgana Celeste.

Combining her love of materiality and composition, Morgana creates vibrant and tactile three-dimensional works that sit somewhere between painting and sculpture. Created using an unconventional mix of materials such as paper pulp, fine cement and acrylic paint, each piece draws attention to the medium’s tactile quality. The hand-worked nature of every piece encourages a sensory response in the viewer. Once fluid and malleable, the hardened surface preserves a physical memory of the maker’s hands as well as the feelings and visual stimuli present at the moment of creation.

In this exhibition the artist reflects on the thoughts that loosely populate her mind throughout the transient instants before falling asleep or during small sleepless windows at night – the exciting projects she dreams up, small unshakable worries and the soothing reassurances that lift her spirits and mellow the mind.

"These are my evening dreams, the things I drift towards before falling asleep. It's the dream home that I'm constantly finessing and decorating in my mind; it's a compliment or a reassurance I want to remember to tell my friend in the morning. I dream up the perfect knitted jumpers and imagine all the clothes I'd make if I could sew. It’s also the silly things that keep me awake that nag at my mind, little embarrassments and regrets. Some things are so small – too insignificant to say out loud but just large enough to hold onto forever." - Morgana Celeste

Things That Keep Me Up At Night is a light-hearted and deeply intimate depiction of the artist’s most vulnerable reflections – whilst based on personal experiences, it accurately describes universal emotions and tender moments that we can all relate to and connect over.

Q&A with Morgana Celeste and pépite founder, Irina Rybakov

Virtual exhibition walkthrough.