Lot 470 - Nour El Saleh - Back of my Mind (Reflected)

Watercolour on paper
2025
A6 (10x15cm)
Original Artwork
Signed on Verso
Curated by Hannah Tilson

About
born in Beirut, Lebanon, 1997

lives and works in London

Nour el Saleh explores notions of place, belonging and selective/relative memory.

Working instinctively without prior planning, the works reveal fragments of familiar yet inhabitable environments with ecosystems suitable only for those who are created within them. Without being an exception to that rule – she visits frequently as an observer, relying on her medium as a mode of research and inquisition into the regulations and dynamics that may come to play within those hypothetical spaces. Bodies; animal and humanoid, appear on the surface, where they indiscriminately meld into each other and are inseparable from the land that they inhabit. heavily referencing human anatomy, they are scrutinized beyond the bounds of biology. Through delicately feathered strokes, flesh is made to look tender, porous and translucent - expanding the visceral possibilities of openings and entries to the body that are neither functional or sexual.

Nour el Saleh completed her postgraduate degree from The Royal Drawing School in 2022 after receiving a BFA at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2019 and has recently exhibited at General Expenses, Mexico city (2024) Des Bains, UK (2024), Xxijra Hii, UK (2023), Quench Gallery, UK (2023), Edel Assanti, UK (2022), Castello di San Basillio, Italy (2022), Cassina Projects, Italy (2022), Christies, London (2022), Plaza Plaza, UK (2021), V.O Curations, UK (2021); Lowell Ryan Projects, Mexico (2020); Kuva Gallery, Finland (2019); Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London (2018). She was recently in residence at Castello San Basilio, Italy (2022) Palazzo Monti, Italy (2022) and Dumfries House, Scotland (2023).