Through a meticulous process that leaves no room for error, Swedish artist Gunnel Wåhlstrand channels memory into mesmerizing ink wash paintings. Working slowly over months, she builds up light and shadow in layers, immersing herself deeply in each image until she can “learn it by heart.” In a newly commissioned essay for Independent Features, art historian and curator Selina Kiiskinen explores Wåhlstrand’s meditative approach to photorealism.
Barbados is “always present” in the shapeshifting artistic practice of Ada M. Patterson, whose work resists easy categorization even as it engages with Caribbean heritage and a world queered by climate crisis. In an interview with journalist Precious Adesina for Independent Features, Patterson discusses her deep exploration of masquerade—a suppressed Barbadian tradition—and the painful political realities that lie behind her new focus on headless figures.