📍The Mount Without, Bristol

08.01.2026 - 01.02.2026

Opening event: Wednesday 7th January, 5-10pm. All welcome.

The Mount Without presents Thirteen Nightmares, a solo exhibition by artist Honoria Brown (b.1996, England). Set within the haunting confines of The Crypt, this installation invites the viewer to dance with deception and question their sense of waking reality.

Honoria’s oil paintings explore sleep as a form of ‘creative dissociation’, exposing our innate ability to reassign meaning and create “nonsense”. Through her murky, anatomical forms, she brings to life elements of sexuality, fear and hope. In this way, she captures the essence of her lucid dreams and nightmares and their insidious manifestation in her daily reality.

Each work begins with a nightmare. Upon waking, it is born as a frantic, expressionist sketch – often finger-painted until the fleeting scene is realised. Then begins the process of layering, during which Honoria builds increasingly intricate layers of paint. This slow, iterative process is akin to awakening for a second time; initially taking inspiration from random imperfections to inspire form and depth, becoming increasingly conscious with the emergence of fine detail. In this way, her dreamscapes attain a confusing logic of their own, luring the viewer into an unsettling sense of recognition.

Thirteen Nightmares represents the artist’s journey of discovery, retracing four years of nightmares throughout which she learned the art of their transcription. Within the low, concrete walls of The Crypt, these works invite you to settle into their depths - what will they invoke for you?