Free-flowing forms travel through surfaces alongside Laxmi Hussain’s signature blue palette to explore the female form, her own identity as a mother and the diversity of femininity. Ethereal but also precise and geometric, these paintings exist somewhere between the abstract and the realistic. Continuous lines often include incomplete elements that capture the fluidity and movement of our ever-changing bodies, inviting us to fill in the absences and make connections between the works.

Working on paper, raw canvas and wood, Laxmi is fascinated by the transitions a body goes through in its lifetime. Its adaptation, its evolution and the impact this representation has on us, whether positive or negative. Aiming to normalise and honour all types of bodies, the collection celebrates our differences and the journeys we go through in life. Inspired by her own journey of motherhood, the works reference its intimate moments; how the body adjusts post-partum, the impact of pregnancy on the body becoming a ‘vessel’, to the ground provided for one’s children thereafter and ultimately reclaiming one’s identity. These moments of motherhood are consciously documented and biographical; her child jigsawed between her body, seemingly mundane but immensely tender, is a reminder to share affection with those you love.

The use of ultramarine blue permeates her artwork as a way of channelling her own memories of her late mother who often dressed in varying shades of blue. Habitually drawing and experimenting on paper, enables her to connect to her feelings of grief. Pouring the love for her mother into the work, recycles emotions that become anode to familial bonds and how these legacies are held for perpetuity.

I saw you in blue… is intensely personal, both in subject matter and Hussain’s association with blue itself. Often exploring close up details, we’re asked not to overlook these small parts which we might hide, hate or ignore, to see all the fragments that make us whole and to understand that there shouldn’t be a singular ideal, that in fact, all our complexities should be recognised; we should all be seen.

About the Artist

Laxmi Hussain is a London-based artist exploring identity, memory and representations of the female form and now as a mother of three, how motherhood fits into her role as an artist. She is represented by Partnership Editions and her client list includes the Royal Academy of the Arts, Henry Moore Foundation, Lick, Vans, Derwent Art and many more.