Macedonian Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva uses ordinary materials and turns them into unusual sculptural installations.

Trained in sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London, her past work includes a wall, more than three metres high, built from blocks of butter.

She aims to explore the tension between man and nature in her art, saying: "The use of natural, everyday materials, materials which we take for granted, raises consciousness of their balance and fragility."

Inside Fabrica, the disused church in the heart of Brighton that specialises in showing contemporary art, Hadzi-Vasileva has dominated the space with a circle made from 1,000 salmon skins suspended from a complex network of fishing wire that reaches the building's roof.

The rippling skins hover above the floor as sunlight falls upon them, creating an unexpectedly dramatic and graceful work.

Epidermis was originally commissioned by Berwick Gymnasium Art Gallery in response to the decline of the local fishing industry.

In Fabrica it gains new life, particularly given the connotations that abound in this work. The fish was the secret symbol of Christ during the pagan era when Christianity was underground.

This intriguing work is coupled with an alter screen of fish bones which spells out the religious text that was recently whitewashed in the alter area, giving modern form to orthodox scripture.

Mark Segal, the Director of Artsway in Hampshire, where Hadzi-Vasileva had an exhibition in 2000, says of her work: "Instead of proceeding with an established practice involving a particular, well- known medium, Hadzi-Vasileva investigates and develops new procedures and practices for each new work.

"This is highly challenging and risky. However, Hadzi-Vasileva has demonstrated her ability to produce high-quality works in this way."

Hadzi-Vasileva's long process of producing the work is as important to her as the piece itself.

Having obtained the fish and bones from a factory, she decided to use traditional techniques to preserve them.

It took four months to clean and treat them with salt and washing up liquid prior to beginning the sculpture.

Segal observes: "It is through her manipulation of quite ordinary materials into the unexpected and enhancing that Hadzi-Vasileva captures and exposes our mundaneness as worthy and meaningful."

There is a series of talks and events relating to the exhibition. Call 01273 778646.