Sahara Longe Sierra Leonean, British, b. 1994
Just Having a Think, 2021
Oil on jute
115 x 80 cm
Copyright The Artist
Steeped in traditional techniques, Sahara Longe’s practice wields hallmarks of painting’s canon in service of identities historically excluded from it. Gently revisionist canvases reframe Old Masters' go-to tableaus — The...
Steeped in traditional techniques, Sahara Longe’s practice wields hallmarks of painting’s canon in service of identities historically excluded from it. Gently revisionist canvases reframe Old Masters' go-to tableaus — The Fall of Man or Three Graces — swapping black bodies into a markedly white visual history. Nude studies and oil portraits splice contemporary subjects into our most hallowed templates of image-making: beneath the playful veil of masterful technique, Longe's conceit is all the more satisfying for its simplicity.