There, there – Shannon Williamson
Shannon Williamson’s latest exhibition There, there explores a synesthetic approach to painting, proposing form for the otherwise invisible energies which exist between bodies as they interrelate. Through this series of small hyper-coloured gouaches, she examines the emotional intimacies and anxieties of caregiving, both for oneself and for the other.
The paintings, while small in scale, are alive with colour and movement. Her vibrant colour palette, juxtaposed with dark spore-like bleeds, lends an undercurrent of toxicity, of warning and of chaos to the works. This in turn speaks to the anxieties and power associated with the role of caregiving. The repetitive and concentric mark making, emblematic of Williamson’s practice, bridge the gap between the abstract and figurative.
In a move away from her distinctive ‘anatomically cartographical’ visual language, this series of works focuses less on the experience of self and instead looks outward toward the other. The works fluctuate between emotions, never static; a rainbow of lived experiences. “The act of making was often like an exercise in recentring, and the works became a collection of disjointed fragments, snapshots of where I’m at in a given moment, constantly in flux and acting as a collective.”
Disembodied limbs and fingers suggest a clinging, prying, and prodding. Distinctive face and skull-like forms with their open maws and teeth, build an otherworldly scene. Often figures appear to be bowed in acts of comfort and embrace, with small hands that hold each other with tenderness. Others emote frustrations and anxieties, with their upturned faces and open mouths crying out.
In her Twilight Sleep works, figures of vivid colour appear to float, untethered in shifting tones of blues. The chaotic mark making is balanced by the fluidity of the ground; the works, not wholly restful, seem to sit in stasis. “A lot of these works are transcriptions of synesthetic experience… I feel like my role is that of a conduit and I have to get the work out on the paper – I don’t really get to choose how it presents itself.”
