Congratulations to Sabrina Coleman-Pinheiro, the debut solo exhibition at the Rele Gallery in Lagos.
'Feeling Blue, Seeking Solace' exists as part of an ongoing dialogue on mental health and mental health issues in contemporary society. Built up with thick layers of paint, Coleman-Pinheiro’s shroud-like figures emerge and recede into shadowy, formless landscapes, silent inhabitants of an unknowable world. These conjured figures, expressionist in their otherworldliness usher us into the unfathomable depths of the human mind, through emotional experiences and murky landscapes.
Echoing the indeterminate, vast nature of the human mind, Coleman-Pinheiro’s textured canvases exist as ‘snapshots’ of an expanding, complex world, one that overwhelms and detaches, offering new depths and realities. In this exhibition, the artist contemplates what it means to find healing and respite from mental trauma. Done primarily in acrylic, the paintings record and communicate fragmented parts of unfolding emotional responses. They offer moments from an ongoing search for relief, presenting solace as a continuous, non-linear process rather than an imagined final state.
The body of work presented here comes at a time when conversations around mental health and wellness are increasingly being had. We find ourselves investigating the storied history and affective relationship between trauma, interpersonal relationships and the environment. How then do we construct processes and spaces of respite from mental trauma? In engaging with the complexly theorised sphere of the mind, how do we imagine procedures of care and destigmatisation?
https://www.rele.co/exhibitions/19-lagos-sabrina-coleman-pinheiro-feeling-blue-seeking-solace/works/