Subcontinent presents Where the Light Falls Gently, the debut solo exhibition of Hemali Vadalia (b. 1984), featuring a suite of autobiographical paintings that are based on life both lived and imagined. Made slowly over the past two years, these works invite us to linger with the artist, her memories, and the quiet power of paying attention. Trained in academic realism at ateliers in Florence and New York, Hemali is used to spending months scrutinising anatomical details of studio models. While she credits the ateliers for her skill, in these pictures, Vadalia paints from memory, not life, tending to a diary of unremarkable yet intimate moments: making kombucha, harvesting karela from a window garden, or visiting the doctor. Her subjects are people within reach: herself, her parents, an old school friend, the woman who cooks for her family. Their presence, rendered in finely layered oil washes, feels simultaneously specific and universal.
Find out more about the show here.