When Emily Pettigrew is out in the world, unencumbered by the weight of its immensity, she often encounters spaces and sites that fill her with an inexplicable and electric sense of excitement. The sensation is immediate and pleasantly overwhelming, often resonating as otherworldly for the artist. In ancient Romano-British religion, there was a belief in genii loci, meaning the ‘spirits of place.’ This idiosyncratic concept guides Pettigrew’s artistic pursuits, and through her paintings…