Exhibition by Johanna Barthet opens tomorrow

Launching on March 25, the exhibition Coming Home to Me by Johanna Barthet is opening at camilleriparismode, Rabat, as the venue’s first exhibition of 2024.

The exhibition will feature some 40 original pieces, which will be on show for three weeks, on the third floor of the Rabat store.

Known for her figurative work, contemporary portraits and a unique expressive idiom, Barthet’s work has, in recent years, been dominated by a quizzical and enthralling series of ‘sitters’ and characters, who stare out and ponder the viewer, much in the way the viewer analyses them. Her passion for depicting the human form is coupled by an incessant need to capture the emotional and psychological stance of her figures.

Drawing inspiration from fashion editorials and social media platforms, Barthet deconstructs and transcends her subjects, reinterpreting them and imparting unto them a distinct flavour, which leaves us to ponder whether each of her figures is, in fact, a reflection of the self, rather than an anonymous stranger. For this reason, Barthet is fast distinguishing herself as one of the more fascinating exponents of contemporary portraiture on the Islands.

Coming Home to Me will follow on the stylistic expression of her more recent work, yet there is an added intimacy, and a clear autobiographical element meandering through this series, which the artist describes as “a personal rendition of my journey through life and all that it brings; choices made on a path less taken and yet written in time.”

Coming Home to Me will be on show at camilleriparismode, Rabat, from March 25 till April 13. The exhibition, taking place on the store’s third floor, will be open during store hours. For more information, to schedule interviews or arrange a personal visit, email you@camilleriparismode.com.