Text by Anne Pontegnie, Clemens Krummel, Emily Mears, Andrew Renton.

Sophie von Hellermann's large-scale, narrative paintings have been described as a 'meltdown of images from books, films, art history, the media and her own life'. Using rapid, broad brushstrokes to apply pure pigment to her canvases, her works have a hazy, dream-like quality.For her exhibition at firstsite von Hellermann produced a series of paintings inspired by literal readings of English idiomatic expressions, including the exhibition title, Elephant in the Room.Works include a 7.5-metre high 'pyre' of portraits inspired by the witch trials that took place in Essex during the English Civil War and a mural running through the building that pictures scenes from 1,600 years of Colchester's history from the Roman colony of Camulodunum, to the siege of Colchester in 1648.Published to accompany the exhibition at firstsite, 25 May - 26 August 2013.