Maggy Hamel-Metsos at Galerie Tschudi
Solo Show «The Etymologist», August 30 until November 1, 2025
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Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
In her first exhibition at Galerie Tschudi, Montreal-based artist Maggy Hamel-Metsos presents The Etymologist, a continuation of her plaque series. The artist considers fragments of everyday life for their symbolic and poetic qualities, melting them into ingots shaped as commemorative plaques onto which the items' names are branded. Objects are either melted on their own to reveal their essence or combined to create scenes or poems abstracted into words. The process of decreation in the production of the plaques invites viewers to imagine the unseen image. The exhibition showcases four works that can be read as verses of a poem meandering across the gallery space, each comprising a group of objects that suggest domesticity and routine labor.
When thinking about the making of plaques, the artist reflects on limitations, including those of language, bodies, destruction, and humanity. Words are seen as conceptual outlines filled with truths or lies, sometimes leading to a senseless conversation. An etymologist's work is likened to digging out the original object within the given outline, cutting into words to understand the whole. The artist's process of melting objects into plaques and commemorating them involves naming and drawing outlines, sometimes cutting parts of objects to impose limits and confront the ineffable.
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on detail from oe i oe ea oe aiy (three parts), 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on detail from oe i oe ea oe aiy (three parts), 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on detail from oe i oe ea oe aiy (three parts), 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on detail from ou iya oe a oe e o o (four parts), 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on detail from ou iya oe a oe e o o (four parts), 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on detail from ou iya oe a oe e o o (four parts), 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on detail from ou iya oe a oe e o o (four parts), 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on Torso, tinned brass, 45 x 29 x 39 cm, 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
Exhibition View Solo Show Maggy Hamel-Metsos «The Etymologist ; view on Monument 1-1-1-1. 2025» at Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, 2025 / Photo: Cedric Mussano / Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Tschudi
