In Kelly Sinnapah Mary’s “The Book of Violette: The Boots,” a lady and boy gaze in open-mouthed surprise at a pair of pink, calf-height boots. It wasn’t clear to me upon my first look why they’d be awestruck by footwear. However elsewhere within the exhibition The Guide of Violette at James Cohan Gallery (all work 2025), “The Book of Violette: Moving Mountains” depicts an older model of the lady flying by the daytime sky hoisting a mass of mountainside above her head, timber dangling from it askew and a small tiger trying mournfully on the viewer. I take this character as godlike not solely due to her supernatural feat of energy, but additionally her lengthy, furry tail and three eyes. I learn that the reference is more likely to Durga, a serious Hindu goddess related to motherhood, safety, and destruction. Maybe the kids in “The Boots” know that the footwear holds transformative energy, as in fairy tales the place donning a pair of footwear modifications the wearer’s destiny or provides them superhuman talents.
“The Book of Violette: Auntie Maryse” is a frontal portrait of the lady, or her relative, as an grownup, carrying a white gown and a tiara, her six arms in various positions. Symbols of her girlhood are left on the bottom: black Mary Jane footwear with white socks standing straight, as if the physique’s reminiscence held them upright, and a blue ribbon as soon as worn in her hair, which seems in a number of different depictions within the present. The portraits principally function Sinnapah Mary’s schoolgirl avatar, Sanbras, who has appeared in earlier exhibitions. Right here, Sanbras is proven in assorted incarnations, together with this vegetal model wherein she has a human head with lengthy, ribboned braids atop a plant stalk whose dangling roots bloodlessly pierce the auntie’s arms. Maybe this marks her as a martyr, like too many ladies who sacrificed their powers to take up the quotidian function of bride or home associate.
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Book of Violette: The Boots” (2025), acrylic on canvas
Sinnapah Mary’s hybrid heritage has been a lot mentioned in artwork criticism — she has South Indian roots and grew up within the French Caribbean territory of Guadalupe with an Indo-Caribbean id. Actually, the recurring strategy of utilizing her characters’ darkish pores and skin as a background for a toile sample depicting leafy inexperienced flora and extra colourful fauna evokes this. It’s as if the land is imprinted on them, marking them as undeniably belonging to the Caribbean.
However extra is occurring right here. The assorted iterations of Sanbras allude to a burgeoning womanhood at a crossroads of celestial being and commonality. One model of Sanbras has 5 heads (“The Book of Violette: Anchored”); in one other, “Invisible Vegetation of Desire,” a unadorned Violette lies inclined on the grass, her watchful head turned towards the viewer, ready to see what’s going to occur subsequent. This determine of womanhood is protean. She is many individuals. The present is called to honor the artist’s grandmother, portray a narrative about Violette that the grandmother didn’t write about herself — one wherein she flew and have become all of the creatures of her desires.
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Book of Violette: Invisible Vegetation of Desire” (2025)
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Book of Violette: Moving Mountains” (2025), acrylic on canvas
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Fables of Sanbras: The Conquest” (2024), paper, steel, mortar, and acrylic paint
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Book of Violette: The Great Camouflage” (2025), acrylic on canvas
Kelly Sinnapah Mary: The Guide of Violette continues at James Cohan Gallery (48 Walker Avenue, Tribeca, Manhattan) by March 22. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
