Through ME at Kunst Depot Venezia, during the 2026 Venice Biennale
This year, a piece of work made in my studio on the edge of the New Forest travelled all the way to Venice. My artwork ‘Through ME’ grew from my personal experience of breast cancer and my reflections on the vulnerability and transformation of the body. Exhibiting in Venice, during the 2026 Venice Biennale, was something I never imagined when I first started working with sugar paper at my table in Sway.
I'm Isil Campanella, a ceramic artist and teacher based at spudWORKS in Sway, Hampshire. Most days you'll find me making stoneware or teaching pottery classes. Through ME is a different kind of work, and a very personal one, so I wanted to share the story behind it here.
Where it began: Body Trouble with Stephanie James
As one of ten women artists collaborating with Stephanie James on Body Trouble, I took part in open conversations and workshops exploring ageing, loss and the changing body. Sharing our experiences created a space where things often left unspoken could be expressed through art.
The passing of time had heightened my awareness of ageing within the body, and the idea of fragmentation became central to my project, particularly as I confronted a diagnosis of breast cancer.
Making Through ME: sugar paper and wire
Making Through ME: shaping the sugar paper and setting the wire
Working with sugar paper
I was drawn, like a moth to a flame, to work with sugar paper: an everyday, organic material whose delicate surface reminded me of ageing skin, with its texture, fragility and continual change over time. I created a form duplicating my breast cancer tumour.
Initially, the work was abstract. I enjoyed shaping the paper and exploring its surface. But as time passed, it began to tear, shrink and separate from the surface beneath it. I became less in control of the material, yet it revealed more and more meaning, and I began to see parallels with the changes happening within my own body.
What the wire represents
Close up from the ‘Through me’ artwork.
Imaging of my breast cancer from the hospital.
Five wires are inserted around the tumour during several hospital procedures to map the affected area and help guide the surgeon during the operation. The wire sticking out of the breast represents the marking wire inserted into my breast before my operation, to locate the area requiring surgery. During my treatment, part of it remained outside my body: a visible connection between what was hidden inside and the outside world. That image stayed with me, and it became a powerful symbol of vulnerability and exposure.
Together, the sugar paper and wire transformed a deeply personal medical experience into an artwork exploring what lies beneath the surface, both physically and emotionally.
From Sway to Venice: where Through ME was shown
spudWORKS Gallery, Sway (April 2026)
The first part of the exhibition was shown at spudWORKS Gallery in Sway in April 2026, close to my own studio and the community I teach in.
Kunst Depot Venezia, during the Venice Biennale (September and October 2026)
The project then travelled to Venice, where the artworks and research were presented at Kunst Depot Venezia in Cannaregio, during the Venice Biennale in September and October 2026.
Venice Bound & Forest Bounds: two landscapes
As part of Forest Bounds & Venice Bound , the work became connected to a wider exploration of the New Forest and Venice: two distinctive landscapes shaped by history, human stewardship and environmental change. Both are living places where past and future meet, and where questions of preservation, transformation and vulnerability remain relevant.
My first time exhibiting in Venice
It was my first visit to Italy. I spent six days in Venice, and seeing Through ME hanging on an old brick wall in Cannaregio, with people stopping to look closely at the paper and the wire, is something I won't forget.
While I was there, I visited the Biennale at two different locations and explored as much of the city as I could. I came away full of impressions and inspiration, especially from the joyful colours of Burano, the island in the Venetian Lagoon known for its brightly painted fishermen's houses and traditional handmade lace.
What Through ME has taught me
For me, Through ME is about more than illness. It is about living through change, confronting uncertainty and finding meaning in experiences beyond our control. It has taught me that vulnerability is not necessarily a weakness; sometimes, it is where the most honest work begins.
Through this work, I hope to make visible what is often hidden, recognising the complexity of the body and the possibility of transformation through art.
Why sugar paper?
‘Paper’ Exhibition at SPUDworks
Between the 2nd and 24th of February, we explored one of the oldest materials used in art: paper.
At that time, I was working on a project that was going to be exhibited, and I was researching different types of paper that I could use for my work.
However, just before that, I had discovered that I was facing a cancer diagnosis. This made me think deeply about the relationship between sugar and breast cancer. I kept hearing conversations about sugar and cancer, and it became something that was constantly on my mind.
I started thinking: what if I made something using sugar paper?
Sugar paper gradually found its way into my life and, eventually, into my art.
I have always had a strong attachment to sugar. I would even say I am addicted to it, and I have been struggling to reduce my sugar intake and make healthier choices.
I began to wonder whether I could replace sugar with something else, and whether that change might help me see sugar from a completely different perspective.
My personal experience with cancer, my relationship with sugar, and my interest in exploring materials all came together in this project.
And that is how sugar paper unexpectedly entered my life and became part of my artistic practice.
About Isil Campanella
I'm a ceramic artist based at spudWORKS in Sway, on the edge of the New Forest. I make hand-built and wheel-thrown stoneware, and I teach small, friendly pottery courses and workshops for adults and children. Through ME was shown at spudWORKS Gallery in Sway and at Kunst Depot Venezia during the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Find out more about the project at venicebound.art
See Through ME on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dcc34ZBjc8b/
Come and make something with me: pottery classes and workshops
Browse my handmade ceramics
