“The Borders of Innocence,” Philemona Williamson’s first solo show in Europe, featured ten oil paintings made by the New York–based artist between 2015 and 2023. Populated by large, often awkward bodies in mysterious, colorful settings, Williamson’s compositions weave together references to personal experiences, world events (historic and current), and diverse mythologies. In this exhibition, childhood—in particular the fluidity and anxiety around identity associated with adolescence—was a common theme. From one painting to the next, figures of indeterminate age, race, and gender appeared in equivocal contexts: plausibly but ambiguously loving, violent, frightening, and empowering.
In A Contemplative Perch, 2017, a chubby-cheeked figure ensconced in the uppermost branches of a leafless tree looms impossibly high above a tiny White House far below. Painted the year Donald Trump assumed the presidency, the scene evokes an uncomfortably familiar feeling of panic and disbelief. Embodying a mix of power and precarity, the figure glances (furtively? knowingly?) at the viewer out of the corner of one eye. Seemingly ill-equipped, the tree climber is barefoot and wearing a fancy old-fashioned dress. A hand and feet marked by patches of raw canvas and a nearby red vine curling around the tree branches like dripping blood further underscore the climber’s vulnerability. Using symbolism and fairy-tale whimsy, Williamson describes a desperate situation: Like Jack’s fabled beanstalk, the towering tree is an escape fantasy destined to come crashing down.
