All is set for the much-anticipated debut show by Jessica Soares. Titled “Who We Are When The Glory is Gone,” the exhibition of paintings is curated by Wana Udobang who described it as embedded with “collaged stories and testimonials.”
“The body of paintings is an exploration of the in-between, the oscillation from how we present ourselves to the world against our actual realities. A kind of sense making of being void of said glory,” she revealed in a statement.
The artist, Jessica Soares (b.1990) is a self-taught artist with a background in Marketing from Redeemer’s University. Her works-mostly drawing and paintings- stem from from personal experiences that raise questions about the complexities and social notions around women’s hair in contemporary society.
Her fabric-inspired pieces also explore issues of legacy and familial bond. The series of paintings explores wigs and scarves as objects of masking, figures adorned in brightly coloured Victorian dresses in performance of hyper femininity alongside etchings of half-dying and half-blooming plants.
Drawing upon her personal experience, Soares takes the viewer on a journey of hair loss to connect with larger themes of perception, aethetic value and how to make peace with a condition that is beyond our direct control.
Soares lives with alopecia, a condition that is characterised by hair thining and hair loss. Hence, the exhibition title hints at the reference to woman’s hair as crowning glory.
The exhibition opens on Sunday, September 10 and runs until October 21 at Rele Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos.