In a workshop above the gallery, Tania Maria Mastroianni is putting the final touches on hundreds of pieces, ready to be installed for Friday’s opening of Hapless Times at the Gates of Euphoria.

She has used mediums such as oil paints, ceramics, gold metal gilding, human hair, ribbon, silk, crochet and glass beads to portray a “thinning veil between worlds”.

Dozens of oval portraits are scattered about the walls and floors, along with gold castings that imitate ex-voto religious offerings and porcelain style dolls.

“It’s supposed to recreate that element of a sacred space, a place to go to reflect,” Ms Mastroianni said.

The Balgownie artist said it was common in Europe to find cobblestone church walls with various “offerings” stuck in cracks, many relating to ailments of different body parts a person wished to have healed.

Some of the artist’s portraits “pay homage” to people in her life such as her hairdresser, sister-in-law and friends.

While others are of late family members she has never met but felt a connection to like her “strong Italian” grandmother.

Then there are the portraits which have taken on a life of their own with their backstories filled in by fans on social media.

“I would put up works in development and have a short description to go with them, but they’re not real people,” the artist said.

One of them was Margo, a fictional flight attendant who died in a plane crash in the 1950’s.

“People started to research her and were saying ‘oh my gosh a KLM plane did go down’, and they would start building narratives around it,” she said.

The works have quite a spiritual feel to them, something Ms Mastroianni said wasn’t a “cool subject” but has always been part of her subject matter.

As her time at the gallery comes to a close Ms Mastroianni has mixed emotions about “getting kicked out” of the beautiful space but is excited to see what kind of response she’ll receive to her exhibition.

“That’s a bit sobering, so I thought I would chain myself to this pole,” she laughed.

An unofficial tradition she will pass on is, when packing up her paints and sketches, to give encouraging words to the new resident.

Just like she was told in 2015, Ms Mastrioanni will pass on words of wisdom and notify her successor to watch the seasons pass through the windows looking out to Crown Street.

They would know their time was nearly up when the colours of the leaves faded.

“I looked up one day and went ‘holy moly yes, the leaves are yellow’ ... because you go into your own kind of bubble here,” she said.

Ms Mastroianni is the 26th artist in residence at Wollongong Art Gallery, which includes access to a studio space and $3000 towards art materials for 12 months.

Hapless Times at the Gates of Euphoria, Wollongong Art Gallery from July 22 to October 16.

Free artist talk, Wednesday August 3, 1pm.

READ MORE: Wollongong’s new artist in residence