JEN DENZIN | Since Here the Way was Broken

Inspired by the Newcastle Art Space location by Styx Creek Jen Denzin’s exhibition title  ‘Since Here the Way was Broken’ is a line from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy (c. 1265–1321).  The line marks the moment the path into hell becomes fractured or impassable. The name ‘Styx’—a mythological river reimagined by Dante as a place of sorrow and spiritual suspension—prompted a reflection on collapse, disorientation, and the emotional weight of despair.

However Denzin’s practice is anything but, her installations, are maximalist colourful all-encompassing environments and will fill Newcastle Art Space. Indeed, they are places where hope might surface. Using non-traditional materials, she draws on what’s found: rubbish dragged from Styx Creek, discarded domestic objects, things broken, overlooked, or unwanted. This use of the ordinary echoes Dante’s choice to write in vernacular Italian—grounding the sacred in the language of the street. In this context, cheap plastic, drinking straws, and Christmas tinsel become a visual dialect—reassembled and redeemed.

The installation itself becomes something of an experiential version of the poem—a spiralling, poetic pathway that invites the viewer to move through despair toward something abundantly joyous. The project sits in quiet dialogue with artists who have reached for the divine through their practice—Hildegard von Bingen, J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, Sister Corita Kent, and Liviu Mocan. No grand comparisons, only a shared sense of seeking—working at the feet of God.

Jen Denzin Since Here the Way was Broken opens with a performance by the Royal Fox Society and Baroque Ococo Karaoke with Bridie Watt and Lyndall Campbell. The event has a dress theme the Baroque broke, bold and the beautiful from 5pm Saturday 14 June 2025 held in conjunction with a Newcastle Art Space fundraising event which includes a win/win art raffle with prizes including artworks by renowned local artists James Drinkwater, Peter Gardiner and Bianca Vern Barnett amongst others. JOIN US 5pm Saturday 14 June for the launch of Jen Denzin's Since Here the Way Was Broken. This free event includes a fundraising dress up party!

Performance by electronic classical music outfit fresh from performing at MONA

• Royal Fox Society Plus:

• Baroque -o-coco Karaoke (Bridie Watt & Lyndall Campbell)

  • There will be dancing!

• 7PM: We will draw our Art Fundraising Raffle

  
  

DRESS THEME: The bold, the Baroque (broke) & the beautiful

Thanks to artist Jo Back to exhibition assistance

IMAGES: Jen Denzin installation Since Here the Way was Broken Photos by Madeleine K Snow