In Pause for a human, Ham Darroch meditates on humanness with an unfaltering sense of curiosity and colour. Darroch occupies the Main Gallery with a series of larger-than-life paintings that are sharply abstracted yet playful, inviting viewers to disentangle his puzzle-like compositions.

These expansive paintings are thoughtfully balanced with vintage bats collected over the years by Darroch. For catalogue essay writer Yvette Dal Pozzo, these bats “become a contained site where Darroch’s interest in everyday ephemera and his painting practice meet in open conversation.” Here, Pause for a human transforms the gallery space into an expansive site of human inquiry.

Through the interplay between abstraction, collected objects and visual experimentation, the exhibition reflects on the ways meaning is constructed from fragments of everyday experience. Darroch’s compositions encourage viewers to navigate shifting relationships between form, memory and association, revealing moments of recognition within seemingly enigmatic arrangements. Together, the paintings and objects create an environment that is at once contemplative and playful, inviting reflection on the complexities, contradictions and enduring curiosity that shape human experience.