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We are delighted to invite you to our new exhibition – Mama Wave by El. This show is being presented as part of the George Town Literary Festival 2025. ➽ The exhibition | Artist's statement
Mama Wave is a painted and written documentation of my own experiences since becoming a mother in 2018. Paint and words have become prayers, medicine and a life force, which have helped me to navigate a journey – the wave – without a map or a precedent to follow.
My work moves beyond the physical, tangible or logical. It is led by my heart, and continues to be an essential means of expressing profound love and grief, and immense gratitude for my children and for life. My paintings are mixed media and largely abstract. The colours and textures are direct depictions of my lived experience as a mother. Abstraction also represents the constant thread in my work of the ongoing, unpredictable wave of motherhood.
Several pieces speak to my outwardly invisible role of mother to a fiercely loved child the world cannot see. Two central paintings, Yellow Sun and Sunlight, Pink and Purple, use acrylic and oil bars in bold strokes to mirror the waves of grief and love I vividly felt during the painting process. The actual loading of the paint and creation of texture are themselves expressions of devotion and sacred commemoration.
My surroundings and nature are important influences in my painting. Tropical Leaves is a mixed media abstract inspired by the leaves, palms, sand, sea and swooping yellow oriels seen daily from my balcony in Tanjung Tokong. It is a burst of colour depicting not only the physical experience of life in Penang – bright, beautiful, welcoming and healing – but its fresh and dazzling colours also mirror my state of mind: excited for a new and much needed adventure for my family.
White Water captures being at one with the elements and my love of the ocean – running into the sea with my surfboard, under a sunny blue sky and in sparkling frothy white water in rural Cornwall. It links to two distinct memories: one in early pregnancy when the sea’s energy and movement mirrored my own elation; and then months after the ending of the same pregnancy when the sea’s energy and strength supported me, and my surfboard kept me afloat, physically and spiritually. Both memories are filled with a sense of sheer gratitude.
Hindu deities and mythology are another source of inspiration in my art and poetry, deepened by my own academic study and periods of travel, meditation and yoga practice in India. Jaya Hands was painted in the early stages of pregnancy with my daughter while listening to mantra chanting, something I have repeatedly turned to in challenging times and at times of celebration. The abstract shape of the arms takes inspiration from Hindu goddesses, emphasising their power and ferocity and embodying both creation and destruction. The painting is a celebration: my own hands thrown up in pure joy, gratitude and prayer to Mother Earth and to her and my womb temple – the ultimate creative source.
All the paintings reflect on a mother’s unwavering love, and a determination to celebrate life, despite the fear of the unknown. This paradoxical mix of emotions is familiar to mothers who have grieved a child or parented a child with complex medical needs. The bright, jewel-like colours and sweeps of many of the paintings express beauty, magic and the precious sacredness and divine power of mothers, in all of their forms.
➽ The Artist: El
El is a Welsh artist and poet who recently returned home to Wales after living for three and a half years in Penang with her young family. She comes from a family of visual artists, writers and librarians. Her mother, Karen Pearce, is a well-known landscape artist based in Wales, whose work has been an important influence. El grew up in her mother’s studio, watching her paint and doing so herself alongside, experimenting with gouache, pastel, charcoal and screen printing from early childhood.
Despite her love of art and literature, El pursued a largely academic path, studying law and French, and later studying and working in the field of international human rights law in London. While living in France, El spent two years in the French Alps where she was drawn back to the familiarity of an artistic ‘family’, and during this period lived in a residential artist’s collective based in Grenoble. There, she drew and wrote about the visual artists occupying this unusual creative space and called on influences from French culture, music and literature.
In 2018 El became a mother – and everything changed, including her perspective on life, priorities, relationships with others and self and, most importantly, her view of the world. It became a time marked by a mix of tragedy, resilience and immense joy. This turbulent period ushered in unexpected and unpredictable experiences and the ongoing ‘wave’ she had no control over, which compelled her to turn inward in order to observe and document the transformation that was taking place within. At the same time, she determined to live life joyfully and to find ways to adventure as a family in spite of significant challenges. This drive for family adventure led to her move to Penang.
While personal and unique to her and her own journey – a documentation of her own experiences of motherhood – El’s art and poetry from this time onwards also evoke a strong identification from all mothers, given the universal themes they speak to.
The artworks from the exhibition will be on sale.
Hikayat
226 Lebuh Pantai
George Town
10300 Penang
T: 04 261 9001 (Hikayat)
04 261 8001 (Gerakbudaya Bookshop @ Hikayat)
E: [email protected]
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