June 10-15, 2025
UNIT/PITT
2954 West 4th Ave
By appointment: nelliegossen@gmail.com
We are pleased to host interdisciplinary artist Nellie Gossen in bringing their Nail Salon to UNIT/PITT this June.
Weaving together lineages of expansive fashion and beauty practice with the teachings of spiritual- and end-of-life care, Nellie uses the time-space of a manicure to hold open, one-on-one conversations about change. Changing bodies, changing weather, changing worlds, changing plans. How do we love that which is irrevocably changing? This is an invitation to collaboratively explore the familiar yet expansive ritual of a manicure as a means of tending to our bodies, as we tend to the changes our world is asking of us.
Nellie practices nail art as queer and gender expansive—all are welcome. Manicures take approximately 2 hours, with a suggested donation of between $20 and $50 to cover the cost of materials. If you’re interested, please send an email to nelliegossen@gmail.com to make an appointment.
Nellie is highly attuned to keeping folks safe in this work through both trauma-informed practice and manicure health and safety. If you have any questions, please reach out.
Nellie Gossen (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist who uses clothing as a tool to think and feel through social systems. Working through the media of fashion, costume, textiles and performance, Nellie practices fashion as a space of study, ceremony, and as a performance making modality in its own right.
With a practice rooted in End-of-Life Care, Nellie’s current work and research focuses on interdisciplinary pathways of knowing and holding the body at the end of life, with a particular interest in cross cultural histories of burial garments.
Nellie holds degrees in Fashion Design (Kunsthochschule Weissensee) and Religious Studies (UBC) and is professionally trained as a Death Doula. In this capacity, they have studied with the New York Zen Centre for Contemplative Care, Vancouver Hospice Society, Douglas College, as well as with teachers such as Frank Ostaseski. Nellie’s work has been presented by The Dance Centre (Vancouver), the PuSh Festival (Vancouver), the Icelandic Textile Centre (Blonduos), and Kunsthalle am Hamburgerplatz (Berlin).