Vincent Straub — When life happens

Combining photography, text, video and mixed materials, When life happens sought to explore the quiet yet profound ways in which life’s most momentous events occur alongside the routines of daily life.

The exhibition took place in the Dolphin Gallery in St John’s College, Oxford, in November 2025 and was supported by the St Edmund Hall Culture Fund.

Created during the first two years of the artist’s time as a PhD student in Oxford, the works reflect how private transitions within a family related to birth and dying often unfold not with matriculatory ceremony, but within the ordinary flow of time.

When life happens was installed in the Dolphin Gallery in St John’s College, Oxford, in November 2025

The exhibition invited visitors to share in creating a third space for grief and reflect on how we continue to live with loss.

Vincent Straub. When life happens. Installation view, 2025

The accompanying exhibition text, “The neverleave tree”, deepens this reflection. Written over several months with two other relatives, it embodies the shared process of mourning.

Claudia Sacher, Viviane Straub, Vincent Straub. The Neverleave tree, 2025

Along with several other related works, it was on show in the exhibition Hand/Hand/Haus, which took place in the arts space Crossing.Kunstraum in Essen, Germany, led by the artist Claudia Sacher.

Included in both exhibitions is the film, Eulogy, which reflects on living, dying and remembering.

Vincent Straub. Eulogy, 2025

Vincent Straub. When life happens. Installation view, 2025