A FALMOUTH artist whose son died after falling from a window has dedicated her latest exhibition to him.

Linda Styles's work explores the themes of love and loss through painting, ceramics and textiles. Otherwise It Will All Be For Nothing runs at the Penny MacBeth Gallery in Penryn from tomorrow until May 1.

The exhibition is a memorial to Mrs Styles's son William and a celebration of his life. It also features the work of Ms MacBeth, who also suffered a series of losses last year.

For Mrs Styles, the exhibition is another "positive" to come out of her son's death.

He was 23 when he died, in November 2009, from a fractured skull after falling from a window.

Positive

He had been trying to climb in the window of the flat he shared with girlfriend Jessie Wallace in Plymouth after returning home from a night out without his door keys when he plummeted 18ft to a patio below.

Mrs Styles said: "The exhibition is inspired by William and Jessie, the subject matter being love and loss. I believe that lots of positive things have come out of my son's passing."

The title refers to a phrase Mrs Styles heard repeatedly in the "trance-like state somewhere between sleeping and waking" following William's death.

She turned to her art to help deal with her grief.

For Ms MacBeth, 2010 was a year of loss and relocation after her partner left, her mother died and her family home was sold.

"Yet from these experiences came a new understanding of the importance of love in all our lives and a confirmation that love is the point, however open that leaves us to the extremes of loss and betrayal," she said.