SARAH CONTOS
VERTICAL HOLD
18 October – 15 November 2025

STATION | SYDNEY

STATION is delighted to present VERTICAL HOLD, Sarah Contos’ fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. 

Employing screen-printed textiles, tufted pieces and sculptural forms, VERTICAL HOLD fractures and reanimates the cinematic picture. Drawing from 1970s and 80s film culture, Sarah Contos transforms the analogue television set, rife with visual glitches, flickers and phantom images, into both material reference and conceptual anchor. Here, visual instability becomes a metaphor for emotional slippage. 

Mining the absurd and atmospheric textures of genre cinema, Contos threads together nostalgia, colour, and chaos through a performative, set-like lens. Each work channels the mood, palette and psychic residue of a specific film, creating a tactile montage that blurs comfort with unease and softness with static. In these works, the idea of ‘holding’ embodies both embrace and constraint, continuing Contos’ exploration of duality, desire and the unmoored nature of memory.

To receive the exhibition catalogue, click here.

Installation Views

Artworks

Sarah Contos
VERTICAL HOLD I (Suspiria) 2025
screen-print on cotton, velvet, poly-fibre
190.0 × 147.0 × 18.0 cm

Sarah Contos
VERTICAL HOLD II (Mannequin) 2025
hand tufted cotton (70%) and Australian wool (30%), screen-print and acrylic on cotton monk cloth
155.0 × 166.5 × 5.0 cm

Sarah Contos
VERTICAL HOLD III (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant) 2025
hand tufted Australian wool (80%) and synthetic fibres (20%), screen-print on cotton, silk, poly-fibre, stainless hardware
165.0 × 204.0 × 22.0 cm

Sarah Contos
VERTICAL HOLD IV (Barbarella) 2025
hand tufted synthetic fibres (100%), screen-print on cotton, PVC, poly-fibre, felt
285.0 × 165.0 × 30.0 cm overall, variable

Sarah Contos
VERTICAL HOLD V (Little Women) 2025
collage screen-print and acrylic on cotton, PVC
200.0 × 180.0 × 14.0 cm

Sarah Contos
VERTICAL HOLD VI (Rosemary's Baby) 2025
collage screen-print on cotton, poly-fibre
137.0 × 274.0 × 10.0 cm

Sarah Contos
VERTICAL HOLD VII (The Shining) 2025
hand tufted synthetic fibres (100%), stainless hardware, poly-fibre, felt
220.0 × 155.0 × 40.0 cm

Sarah Contos
VERTICAL HOLD VIII (Rebecca) 2025
screen-print on cotton, PVC, poly-fibre, tul
198.0 × 180.0 × 55.0 cm

Exhibition Text

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