Exhibition Opening: 9 Oct 5:30pm-7:30pm

Exhibition dates: 9 Oct - 8 Nov 2026

Borrowing its title from Emma Lazarus' celebrated poem The New Colossus, Yearning to Breathe Free is a meditation on displacement, resilience, and the universal search for belonging. Inspired by the experiences of refugees journeying toward safety and rebuilding their lives in unfamiliar lands, these paintings extend beyond a single narrative to reflect the life-changing moments we all encounter—times that demand courage, hope, and the strength to begin again.

Drawing upon the compositional harmony and restrained palettes of Renaissance and Rococo painting, these works transform the visual language of the classical tradition into a contemporary form of abstraction. Viewed up close, the paintings dissolve into expressive brushstrokes, colour, and light with little suggestion of recognisable forms. Yet from a distance, they gradually reveal scenes that seem to emerge from memory, inviting viewers into an experience of discovery rather than immediate recognition.

This shifting relationship between abstraction and representation mirrors the uncertainty of displacement itself, where identity, place, and belonging are continually redefined. Rather than illustrating specific stories, the paintings evoke emotional landscapes of departure, perseverance, and renewal.

Light remains the unifying force throughout the exhibition. Emerging from passages of layered abstraction and apparent chaos, it becomes a quiet metaphor for resilience—offering hope without denying struggle, and redemption without sentimentality.

Ultimately, Yearning to Breathe Free invites viewers to reflect on the many forms of migration that shape our lives, whether geographical, emotional, or spiritual. In dissolving certainty into luminous abstraction, these paintings celebrate the enduring human capacity to persevere, to adapt, and to find home once more.