Children with unblinking glass eyes and rosy, innocent complexions stare back as though expectant of parental attention; their bodies are like half-completed toys, their crossed stitches demarcating shoulders, necks, toes, hearts. Stitching, and its associations with mending – whether toys, clothes, or human bodies – is a leitmotif in Mayer’s work. A family, gathered around an armchair as though preparing to pose for a family photo, embrace each other awkwardly: the mewling baby in the mother’s lap brandishes needles big enough to poke its parents’ eyes out.