Reclaiming the Nymph: A Force of Nature

About

About the Exhibition:

Shining a light on environmentalism during International Women’s Month Reclaiming the Nymph: A Force of Nature, curated by Mollie E Barnes, features eight internationally emerging female artists, Caroline Absher, Ofunne Azinge, Megan Baker, Eleanor Johnson, Michelle Nguyen, Precious Opara, Sikelela Owen, and Jasmine Pradissitto. Reflecting on the roles women have played to protect the Earth, exhibiting artists in Reclaiming the Nymph simultaneously present a promise and a warning for the future.

Historically depicted as beautiful maidens in Pre Raphaelite, Renaissance and Mediaeval art movements, each artist in the exhibition challenges expectations of the sleeping, invisible and objectified deities. Instead, they look to present true meanings of change and power in order to highlight the importance of protecting the environment and its future. The ideas presented are no longer restricted by staunch ideas of a gender binary, and are instead emerging, ready to drive change and promise. They are the personification of nature.

About the Artists:

Featuring for the first time in London is Michelle Nguyen, whose work borrows motifs from 17th Century Dutch Vanitas to address themes of intergenerational trauma, historical erasure, and ecological grief. Eleanor Johnson creates dreamscapes surrounding the magical connection between shape shifting humans and morphing creatures. Megan Baker’s paintings that teeter on the edge of abstraction transform the viewer’s eye as she paints nymphs in metamorphosis, dancing through the forests.

Other artists in Reclaiming the Nymph explore the meaning of nature’s power and the urgency to protect the environment. New York based Caroline Absher places modern-clad women in plush natural habitats to conjure ideas of contemporary climate activists.  Artist and researcher Jasmine Pradissitto’s sculptural works made from Noxtek absorb their weight in pollutant gases from the air around us. Ofunne Azinge focuses on the history of post-colonialism in Nigeria and its socio-political effects on the natural world. Sikelela Owen’s paintings that tap into the loss of a precious moment, and the sense of meaning that such ephemeral things can engender humankind with. Exhibiting her work for the first time, Precious Opara’s figurative paintings evaluate attitudes to indoor space, becoming a primary space of safety for so many during the pandemic. 

About the Curator:

Mollie E Barnes is an independent curator working in the UK. Working in the art world for over 10 years, Barnes curates with a consistent focus on advocating for underrepresented artists, supporting them through exhibitions and initiatives. Keen to address the gender and equality disparity in the art world, Barnes founded She Curates in 2020, a platform aimed at championing the voices and stories of Women and Queer artists around the world.