10/10/2026
One of the most powerful photographs from today’s opening of GHOST at White River Gallery.
As the doors were opening and the first visitors arriving, artist Diane Victor was still putting the finishing touches to one of her works.
Her work had a profound effect on visitors today. Some stood in silence, others were moved to tears. There is much to unpack in these extraordinary works, and we’ll be sharing more in the coming days.
But this photograph captures something else. The final moments of creation, just as the work begins its life in the eyes of others.
Diane spoke today about the relationship between the act of making art and the idea of a ghost:
“The mediums I work with … often I’m interested in the ephemerality of materials … Literally, it is catching ghosts because you’re moving the candle, you’re catching the smoke. You have an idea in your head. You could do it in a number of ways, but you extract it through your fingers or through the material and you catch it as a ghost. It’s a ghost of an idea that if you don’t fix down, it’s gone and lost.”
There is something extraordinary about witnessing that moment. An artist fixing the last traces of an idea into something tangible, just as the rest of us arrive to encounter it.
GHOST, a trio of solo exhibitions by Diane Victor, Elfriede Dreyer and Emma Willemse, is showing at White River Gallery, Casterbridge until 30 November, 2026.
