Nathalie Detsch Southworth

My painting unfolds in a space beyond representation, where signs become memories and forms become carriers of time. I work with a symbolic visual language that does not follow a readable script, yet recalls archaic, calligraphic and mythical systems. I understand these signs as traces of universal experience — fragments of a language older than words.

Rhythm, repetition and inner order shape my compositions. As in a musical structure or a ritual framework, tensions arise between movement and stillness. Emptiness within the image is not a void, but an active resonant field that grants the signs weight, breath and presence.

Color is used deliberately and sparingly. Earthy tones, gold, black or turquoise condense atmosphere and meaning without imposing themselves. They carry memory, depth and a sense of time.

My works do not seek definitive interpretation. Rather, they open a quiet space in which inner images, associations and sensations may unfold. I understand my painting as archetypal expressionism — an attempt to render the timeless, the connective and the unsayable visible, and to direct the gaze toward a shared human depth.

Born in Zurich in 1971. Married to Jonathan Southworth, mother of Timothy and Jemima.

Matura Typus B
2 semesters of Cultural Anthropology at University of Zurich
Art foundation course
Hospitanz Fine Art class FSG, Olten, CH

since 1999 painting in my own studio

2025 Gasthof zum Bären, Birmenstorf, CH
2023 Galerie Anixis, Baden, CH
2021 Gemeindehaus Birmenstorf, CH
2019 Ortsmuseum Meilen, CH
2018 "Schickimicki exklusive", Mythenschloss Zürich, CH
2018 Zähnteschüür, Oberrohrdorf, CH
2017 Spectrum Miami, USA
2017 ARTIFACT gallery, New York, USA (solo show)
2015 Open studio days, Birmenstorf, CH
2014 Rotterdam International Art Fair, NL
2013 Wohnbedarf Talamona, Fislisbach, CH (solo show)
2013 International group exhibition, "Nothing is big or small for the Universe", curated by Stefania Carrozzini, Città di Castello, IT
2013 Galerie Anixis, Baden, CH (anniversary group show)
2012 Galerie Anixis, Baden, CH (group show)
2010 Galerie Claudine Hohl, Zurich, CH (group show)
2009 Gemeindehaus Birmenstorf, Birmenstorf, CH (solo show)
2008 Galerie Claudine Hohl, Zurich (group show)
2006 Galerie Cäcilia Wameling, Untersiggenthal (group show)
2006 Max Ernst Gesellschaft, Brühl bei Bonn, DE (group show)
2006 Galerie Claudine Hohl, Zurich, CH (group show)
2005 Regionales Alterszentrum, Fislisbach, CH (solo show)
2004 Galerie V.I.P. Interiors, Barbizon, F (group show)
2004 Galerie Kunstforum Seligenstadt, DE (solo show)
2004 "Lichtfeld 4", Basel, CH (group show)