So delighted to confirm the line-up for Waiting to Exhale. This is is going to be another big show in the little space, and a bustling one in the dollhouse, with a diverse range of work both in terms of interpretation of the title theme and artwork mediums including textiles, sculpture, ceramics, oil and acrylic painting, drawing and etching, photography, collage, and video.
Exhibition opening: Saturday 16 May @ 5pm - 8pm (all welcome!)
Waiting to Exhale
16 May - 20 June 2026
The House of Smalls
103 Henderson Row
Edinburgh EH3 5BB
Standard opening times:
Mon | Thurs | Fri | Sat: 11am - 6pm
Sun: Midday - 5pm
Tuesday & Weds: Closed
The gallery will be closed on the weekend of 30/31 May. Please always check THOS social media or the website before visiting.
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I wasn’t going to post this but then I thought no, I AM proud. I’ve worked my way from my first job as a junior and cleaner in an insurance firm to being PA for some of London’s top family lawyers; to working in Parliament for a prominent Right Honourable Labour MP and being involved in the research element of what is the current UK Modern Slavery Bill; to dumping myself in the midst of some of the UK’s most violent sexual perpetrators and criminals (75% of inmates at the prison are serving life sentences) as a self-test, in an effort to gain any kind of understanding as to ‘why’.
These moments don’t last for long, imposter syndrome is very real, but the current show is about mental health awareness and I do have to try sometimes to override the she-devil in my ear.
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Edinburgh is well and truly living up to its ‘four seasons in one day’ reputation today - we’ve had the heaviest hail storm to the brightest sun and everything (including hefty gusts) in between. Rapidly changing light is making photos difficult but if you can see beyond the reflection, there is #thedollhouseinthewindow* ✨
*I’ll turn her for proper photos tomorrow - for some reason I put the remote control for the turntable that she sits on in my bag last night. And then left my bag at home this morning.
What a brilliant night! Thank you so so much to everyone who came down to the opening of Waiting to Exhale, the little space and pavement outside was absolutely rammed and it was so lovely to see you all. (Of course I only took two photos but will do some more later) ✨
Huge congratulations to @dilyslrose and @lotus_art_33 for their artwork sales (@dilyslrose ’s piece sold before the show even opened!) ✨
Thank you so much as ever to Dave for running the ‘bar’, to the weather for holding, and to the Co-op for scouring their storeroom for ever more paper cups ✨
Although this show is less tightly themed, every picture (textile…ceramic…sculpture…video…) tells a story and artists will be featured in the usual way throughout the show, which runs until 20 June ✨
The gallery will be open today between midday - 5pm and as always please check the socials/website for opening hours before visiting✨
Thank you love you.
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Unbelievably, the summer/fringe show in August will be The House of Smalls’ 30th exhibition, and I will try and do a retrospective type thingy of all the shows.
Coming up shortly is also the 2-year anniversary of relocating to Scotland and as I get ready for the 11th show here, I thought I’d add a little reminder of the exhibitions so far in the wee Edinburgh space.
Thank you so much as ever to everyone who’s supported me on this amazing journey, The House of Smalls couldn’t and wouldn’t exist without you.
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So while I patch and paint the little big space, she does the big little space.
Or does she…
#littleamy #patchandpaint #galleryrefresh #moreonmethanthewalls
I wanted to share a small excerpt from an email received from @aliaksandra_sea_mar - an artist in Belarus who had work in the last show - because it expresses in such a lovely way the very connection I’d hoped for and the intent behind The House of Smalls when I set up the dollhouse element during the global lockdowns of 2020.
Thank you so much Aliaksandra 🩶✨
Thank you so much to the artists for sharing their very personal stories; and to everyone who has visited, engaged with and supported this exhibition - the feedback has been wonderful.
Every woman who’s visited and stopped to chat has experienced a fight in one way or another for, or in regards to, medical treatment - regardless of her background, where she was born or where she lives.
Let’s keep making noise ✊🏼
On a personal note, thank you so much to the artists for their patience, love and support throughout the last few weeks.
Next up:
Waiting to Exhale
16 May - 20 June 2026
* Also, we made Rightmove!
Mention of: Menopause | Depression | Anxiety | Abandonment | Confusion
NAOMI WELCH
My Cuts Believe Me
Textiles
62cm x 120cm
£TBC
Over a third of women who go to the GP with symptoms of the menopause are prescribed antidepressants.
The inclusion of the hellebore flower on this piece is a recurring image in my work. Often prescribed in medieval times for “melancholy, depression and mental instability” the plant is actually highly poisonous and more likely to kill than cure.
There has been a chronic lack of training and education around this significant transition in women’s lives and the symptoms many of us will experience. We often enter it woefully ill prepared. Our sex education at school has taught us about periods and pregnancy, but not what to expect when we are perimenopausal.
For me, presenting at my GP for the first time at 45 and again several times over the next few years, I was offered antidepressant and anxiety medication. I was depressed. I was anxious. But the medication didn’t really help. If I had understood more about what was happening to my own body, I would have been able to advocate for myself.
The quilt in this piece, which is actually part of a paper-pieced quilt I have been sewing, on and off for the last decade, represents the comfort of the life I had built. I felt all of this gradually falling apart into pieces and I had no idea why.
It’s a very lonely place to find yourself in.
Not one of the doctors who had seen me over those 3 years even mentioned the word menopause. I wish they had.....I might not have felt so bleak and broken. And I might have been prescribed medication which helped.
This piece is intentionally vulnerable. It is a raw and honest picture of what it felt like to try to navigate a shifting world, which was falling apart around me. I hope that this piece will resonate with other women who have felt the same kind of abandonment, confusion and vulnerability. We aren’t alone. This is a shared experience and we need to talk about it openly and educate our young people.
@naomijwelch
