Long having admired 18th and 19th century opera, Sandra has painted a series of small-scale operatic scenes. The unpolished nature of the little paintings and figures belies the precise expression of emotion within. Rivalry, deceit, despair, jealousy, arousal, love — are declared in what she calls “the structured melodic style of painting”. Using found materials, a rough and ready painting style, and folksy puppetry, Meigs work, spare and delightfully fresh, seems to have been created in a back-woods basement for use in her own play room.

Each small puppet character is appended to the painting as if in a spotlight. In mute orchestral syncopation, expressionistic gesture, and plot, life and death within social expectations collide between Pathos and Comedy.