Installation view of “Sahara Longe The Other Side of the Mountain,” Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (June 28-Sept. 28, 2025). | Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions
NEW FIGURATIVE PAINTINGS by British artist Sahara Longe capture real and imagined scenes, based on dreams, personal memories, and reflections on family. School girls wearing blue uniforms are caught whispering. A woman in a red dress glimpses her reflection as she passes a mirror. In another picture, a man and woman are arranged at some distance from one another, compositionally prioritizing the relationship among fields of rich color over any indication of how the figures may be connected.
Large and small works are featured in “Sahara Longe: The Other Side of the Mountain,” the first solo institutional exhibition of the artist. The show is on view at Arnolfini, a center of interdisciplinary contemporary arts in Bristol, UK, that has been showcasing artists from around the world since 1961. Longe was born in London, UK, where she lives and works. Her figures are rendered in simplified forms in a deep-toned palette derived from her training at Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy, where she studied classical portraiture working with a limited selection of five colors.
One of the more sizable paintings on display, “The Yellow Dress” (2025), sheds light on the title of the exhibition. A woman wearing a form-fitting mustard yellow dress gives a wanting glance back over her shoulder as she ascends stairs on the left side of a painting, while a couple facing one another, intimately close, appears to float above the ground on the right.
The audio description that accompanies the exhibition notes that the painting channels our alternative selves. “When talking about the work [Longe] curiously reflected that she often feels exactly opposite the glamorous and sexy woman portrayed in the painting. The work invites us to reflect on our multiple selves, how these versions of us, real or imaginary, past or present, intersect and co-exist,” the narrator said, suggesting the possibilities of what one might find “on the other side of the mountain.” CT
“Saraha Longe: The Other Side of the Mountain” is on view at Arnolfini, Bristol, UK, from June 28-Sept. 28, 2025
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Installation view of “Sahara Longe The Other Side of the Mountain,” Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (June 28-Sept. 28, 2025). | Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
Sahara Longe, shown at her first institutional solo exhibition, “The Other Side of the Mountain,” at Arnolfini in Bristol, UK. | Photo: Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
SAHARA LONGE, “The Yellow Dress,” 2025 (oil on linen, 88 ⅝ x 59 inches, 225 x 150 cm). | © Sahara Longe, Courtesy the artist and Timothy Tayor. Photo: Prudence Cuming
Installation view of “Sahara Longe The Other Side of the Mountain,” Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (June 28-Sept. 28, 2025). | Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
SAHARA LONGE, “The Spanish Man,” 2025. | © Sahara Longe, Courtesy the artist and Timothy Tayor. Photo: Prudence Cuming
Installation view of “Sahara Longe The Other Side of the Mountain,” Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (June 28-Sept. 28, 2025). | Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
SAHARA LONGE, “Schoolgirls,” 2025. | © Sahara Longe, Courtesy the artist and Timothy Tayor. Photo: Prudence Cuming
Installation view of “Sahara Longe The Other Side of the Mountain,” Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (June 28-Sept. 28, 2025). | Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
SAHARA LONGE, “Mirror,” 2025. | © Sahara Longe, Courtesy the artist and Timothy Tayor. Photo: Prudence Cuming
Installation view of “Sahara Longe The Other Side of the Mountain,” Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (June 28-Sept. 28, 2025). Shown, “Praying Woman,” 2025. | Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
Installation view of “Sahara Longe The Other Side of the Mountain,” Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (June 28-Sept. 28, 2025). | Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
Installation view of “Sahara Longe The Other Side of the Mountain,” Arnolfini, Bristol, UK (June 28-Sept. 28, 2025). | Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. All rights reserved
FIND MORE about Sahara Longe on Instagram
BOOKSHELF
“Sahara Longe” was published by Timothy Taylor, the artist’s gallery in 2022. The 50-page volume accompanied a presentation at Frieze London and is sold out. Sahara Longe is among the contributors to the recent publication “The National Gallery. Paintings, People, Portraits.” She is also among the many artist featured in “When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting,” which documents a major exhibition curated by Koyo (), that originated at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (Zeitz MOCAA) in CapeTown, South Africa.
