Finding truths in the vulnerable body.
Infusing the serenity of emptiness with the vibrancy of activity, artist Miranda Forrester has cultivated a space for connection through life drawing in her studio at Phoenix Brighton. While meeting sitters, her allegiance to homely comforts over the clinical nature of galleries grants an honest relation in her celebration of the female form. The scent of coffee, the sound of R&B and the warmth of sunlight meet in the morning, enticing figures to awaken, plants to dance and shadows to cross. The dichotomy of movement and rest at daybreak is echoed by the artist’s combination of workwear and sliders, the wall’s delicate hanging of tools converging with an unfurling mélange of drawings, and the encroachment of colourful leaves into white expanses. With larger works taking up space on walls and easels, there is a liberation in her portraits as bodies stretch across draped sheets. These reclining figures emphasise a sense of gravity, release and a settling into the domesticity that is present in their surroundings. Having sandals and sneakers at the ready, the artist is prepared for the temperamental weather that often arises during her daily walks and runs. When this uncertainty concerns the completion of her works, she places them aside for a few days as she decides on whether to make further additions. Considering her explorations of race, printed references to the works of Tschabalala Self, Lubaina Himid and Zanele Muholi are nestled between her own line drawings. There is an iridescence in the studio as one beholds glossy glimpses in the artist’s paintings. This mutable quality is mirrored in her reading of coming-of-age literature which chronicles the wonder of growing up. Integrating the maturing intimacy of this period, Forrester traverses interpersonal terrains to garner personal and collective insights into the nature of identity.