There you stood (detail) 2024, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Frestonian Gallery is delighted to present our first solo exhibition by Cara Nahaul. The vibrantly coloured and elegantly balanced compositions of Nahaul’s major canvases present, in Gallery 1, an extraordinary tableau of a place and culture. Devoid of figures, but with the light and heat of their subject perfectly evoked – each canvas becomes not just a window but a doorway through which the viewer already feels they have begun to step.
In Gallery 3 space is given to a series of the artist’s studies and works on paper that reveal the highly considered and meticulous processes by which Nahaul arrives at her fully realised paintings. Each canvas being under-girded by intense thought, yet retaining a thrilling sense of spontaneity.
The setting of Mauritius, from where the artist’s father and family originate, with its complex colonial history, is a crucial and compelling aspect of the works. The island’s past as a hub of colonial trade, indentured labour, and cultural convergence is reflected in its architecture, markets, and coastal villages. Crumbling facades and weathered textures in the paintings allude to these histories, while suggestions of vibrant life emerge in scenes of empty market stalls and quiet fishing villages. The stillness of closed doors, partially opened gates and deserted streets invite reflection on the lives that unfold just out of view.
Landscapes are distilled into their essential forms through bright geometric shapes, alluding to the vitality of communal life. Ordinary places reveal and evoke a series of layered narratives: the visible aspects of earning and survival, the ephemeral traces of marks on walls and shadows on streets, and the quiet persistence of life’s routines. The exhibition encourages a deeper look at what we might mean by ‘livelihood’, and how it extends beyond economic necessity to encompass the soul of a place and its people, inviting viewers to consider the enduring imprints left by work, memory, and aspiration.
Livelihood is a reflection on human existence through the rhythms of labour and the spaces people inhabit. This series of paintings captures the interplay between public life and private reverie, offering a poignant study of resilience and humanity. The exhibition’s title refers not only to the work and labour that sustain survival but also to the intangible elements that make life meaningful - relationships, routines, and unseen moments that connects individuals to their environment.
Cara Nahaul (b. 1987, London, UK) received her BA from Goldsmiths, University of London, and her MFA from Parsons The New School for Design, New York.
Her work has been exhibited at Galerie Camille Pouyfaucon, Paris; Taymour Grahne Projects, London; Alexander Berggruen, New York; The Hole, New York & Los Angeles; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK; Sargent’s Daughters, Los Angeles; YiYuan Tang Museum, Shanghai; National Assembly and Seojung Art Center, Seoul; The Stables Gallery Richmond Museum, London; The New School University Centre, New York and The Kitchen, New York. The artist was featured in The Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting Vol. 2 (2021)
