Gallery White presents their solo exhibition titled WHEN THINGS OF THE SPIRIT COME FIRST, featuring the works of Sonatina Mendes.
“I believe it is often disquieting experiences that make us see more than what we already do.
The death of my father made me question the way I perceived interior spaces and the absence or presence of the other in them.
As I created this body of work, I constantly remembered the visuals of his bed, the curtains of his hospital room, the mug he drank from, the food he ate…But I was then constantly asking myself what more – what next?
I found myself asking myself questions like : where the soul might go after a person dies, how I perceived the nature of loss and what kind of imagery could I create from these inquiries.
In the quest for an answer, I Iooked at my Christian upbringing and the presence of the supernatural as a bank of imagery.
The writings of Isabelle Allende, the verse of Mary Oliver and Emily Dickinson became poignant for me too.
I realized that I had to accept that confronting the unknown had to be accepted as a reality of my existence.
Isn’t a creative life is based on this maxim?
I have titled this show ‘When things of the spirit come first ‘after Simone De Beauvoir’s novel as really – our engagement with our spirit as we live (and to live) should never leave us – ever and forever…”
– Sonatina Mendes , 2025.
Find out more about the show here.