em-bedded

The bed serves as a profound space for deep contemplation, where emotions, dreams, and memories intertwine. Symbolically, the bed represents the vast spectrum of human experience—birth, growth, death; memories, nightmares, dreams; pain, illness, love. Paola King-Borrero explores the bed as both an intimate object and a creative catalyst, inviting us to see it not just as a physical space but as a symbolic one, rich with personal and artistic meaning. Embedding herself and the spectator in the resting spaces of muses, King-Borrero reveals a dynamic arena where desire, the body and the unconscious serve as impetuses for creative expression.

“Influenced by the tradition of Magic Realism and deeply informed by my Latin American heritage, my work exists at the intersection of mysticism, memory, and materiality. Through the transformation of found objects, I seek to transcend their origins, recontextualizing them as conduits of new meaning. These objects become vessels of a narrative that carries the weight of both personal and collective histories, real and imagined. I seek to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, imbuing found objects with new meaning and exploring the tension between the tangible and the ethereal. The body, central to my work as both subject and medium, is an archive of experience— inscribed with longing, suffering, and transcendence. It serves as a threshold where the mystical and the mundane converge, dissolving the boundaries between the sacred and the profane. Through this process, I construct spaces that challenge the stability of reality, evoking a sense of wonder, unease, and the macabre. My work invites viewers into a world where perception is unsettled, revealing the intricate layers of memory, mythology, and the unseen forces that shape our existence.” - Paola King-Borrero

Opening Friday 16 May, 6pm - 7:30pm

On Show Friday 16 May - Sunday 1 June