Frestonian Gallery is delighted to present Second Passage, an exhibition by London-based artist Cara Nahaul (b. 1987). Bringing together a collection of new works, Nahaul returns to the Mauritian landscape to build on previously explored themes of memory, migration, and questions of Empire. Nahaul has often drawn from her childhood visits to Mauritius, where her father originates from, and the long summers set against the tropical backdrop of the island. In Second Passage, Nahaul brings a new perspective to these themes following the birth of her child, tracing her own memories while building new ones for the next generation. A complexity unfolds through the lens of parenthood and the passing of time, asking questions of cultural legacy and connection across a growing familial history.
Personal and colonial histories converge amongst the coastal village and roadside scenes, peppered with glimpses of life through the stray dogs that wander the island. Nahaul’s paintings drift between the landscapes encountered on long car drives, briefly appearing through a car window, and the idyllic coastlines, mapping the journey across her memories. The fleeting nature of these recollections raises the question of how one might stay tethered to ancestral roots and cultural identities, and how this might manifest with the introduction of yet another generation. Within her exploration of memory, Nahaul touches upon mortality through imagery drawn from her family in Mauritius and her immediate surroundings in London. The distance between the geographies invokes the discussion of migration and the intricate identities that are woven across families as they nurture roots across continents.
An ephemerality resides in the paintings, a reflection on the fragility of memory and the contradictory nature of attempting to hold onto such intangibility. The works begin to emulate a film roll, expressing the journeys of the artist and her family as they navigate both the past and the present. The landscapes are at once familiar and novel as they are revisited through her child’s eyes. Within the historical context of Mauritius, the theme of memory inherently considers the way in which the landscapes have borne witness to the island’s history of indentured labour and imperial oppression, and as a place of colonial trade. The landscape occupies a continual state of flux as it evolves across histories, acquiring a simultaneous sense of tangibility and transience.
Across her practice Nahaul considers the complex temporal nature of memories, growing outside the parameters of linear temporality and shaped by individual experience. With regards to the undercurrent of the post-colonial narrative that Nahaul examines, artists such as Hurvin Anderson come to the forefront with his nuanced approach to the post-colonial environment. Nahaul also cites Helen Frankenthaler’s expansive, stained canvases and the quiet minimalism of Lois Dodd as key influences on the works.
Second Passage develops on Nahaul’s previous works, revealing yet another layer to the tapestry that is both her and her family’s experiences and memories, and the legacy of Mauritius. Nahaul entwines the personal with the historical, capturing a visceral experience of globality through transient moments of the everyday.
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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 the Royal Academy, London; 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) & Vol. 3 (2024). She has been twice selected for the John Moores Painting Prize. She lives and works in London.
