An exciting moment for artist
Cara Nahaul who opens her first solo exhibition at
Frestonian Gallery tomorrow. Livelihood is a large collection of new oil paintings of scenes in Mauritius, the birthplace of the artist’s parents, an island celebrated for its beauty but with its own difficult colonial past. Nahaul’s scenes – devoid of human figures but certainly not of life – show the layers of cosmopolitanism and history intertwined in the tropical island’s streets.
It’s easy to see why Nahaul would be drawn to paint in Mauritius – from the lush vegetation to pretty fishing boats, to deserted roadside stalls and makeshift structures. In these still scenes, without the distraction of figures (but with the exception of a few animals) the viewer contemplates up close the meaning of the show’s title Livelihood: with clues as to the lives lived and labour that has taken place at these now absent sites, a subtle interrogation of what might be important, what richness and wealth might mean beyond economic gains.
Nahaul – who trained at Goldsmith’s and then Parson’s, New York – employs a distinctive lucid, brightly-coloured palette in her oil paintings, contrasting her with a room of sketches in charcoal and pencil on paper. The inclusion of these studies also shows how colour changes the narrative of these vistas into gloriously compelling and celebratory tableaux. Nahaul is one to watch in 2025.
