This May, we’ll welcome new work to the gallery from London-based artist Alicia Reyes McNamara. Two volcanoes grow together, two rivers lay side by side is an investigation into the queering of Mexican and Irish folklore and rituals in which beings and landscapes mutate and shapeshift, creating a personal imaginary in forms of embodiment.
The collection of dream-like paintings reimagines femme centered folklore and reclaims these stories and explores these deities as independent, self-possessed beings who have the potential to transcend their own definition and acquire a new life or meaning. Reyes McNamara writes: “I hope to transport the viewer into an unfixed amorphous world of shapeshifting feminine energy, and they be both curious and uneasy.”
Alicia Reyes McNamara
Alicia Reyes McNamara is originally from Chicago and currently lives and works in London, England. Reyes McNamara creates works which draw upon both Mexican and Irish (their parent's cultural heritages) mythology and folklore in order to make work that speaks of navigating gendered and cultural identities and questions how to negotiate the idea of cultural authenticity. Their work was recently included in Christie's “Women to Watch” (2023) and earlier at Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition in the Liverpool Biennial and at London’s Institute of Contemporary Art. Reyes McNamara recently had solo shows at Five Car Garage, Los Angeles and Niru Ratman in London. Their work has been presented at Whitechapel Gallery, London; Lismore Castle, Lismore; and participated at the Skowhegan School of Painting Residency, Maine. Other residencies and awards include: South London Gallery Graduate Residency 2016-17; Kiosko Gallery in Bolivia through Gasworks and Triangle Network, Bemis Center For Contemporary Arts, Jerwood Bursary, and the Chisenhale Studio Summer Residency.
