Kristina Merchant

Glasgow-based artist Kristina Merchant’s diverse work experience, including spells as a shop assistant, customer service advisor, and bartender, has cultivated a heightened awareness of her surroundings. These roles, combined with her art studies, have led her to a practice that explores discarded Scottish cultural ephemera. Kristina's work reflects the Vices and Virtues theme through a unique lens, particularly focusing on personal memories of her Nana Irene a pub landlady. 

By examining the remnants of her Nana's vices—cigarette butts, empty bottles—Kristina delves into the vices of smoking and drinking and their impact on personal and familial relationships. Her pieces transform these discarded items into jewellery, highlighting the complex interplay between vice and the sense of nostalgia and warmth often associated with loved ones.

This exploration positions Kristina's work within the delicate balance between comfort and affection, encouraging viewers to reflect on how vices shape our memories and relationships. Through this intimate lens, Kristina's jewellery challenges us to consider the duality of vice and virtue in our own lives and the lives of those we cherish.