ARTISTS
The Stories We Tell
Victoria Miro is delighted to present the first significant introduction of three emerging artists, all born in the 1990s, to a London audience.
The Stories We Tell offers a vivid exploration of memory, identity and family through the distinctive lenses of Tidawhitney Lek, Emil Sands, and Khalif Tahir Thompson. Each artist blends autobiographical elements with imagined and historical narratives, uniting their individual stories through a focus on the human figure. Tidawhitney Lek, a Cambodian-American artist based in Southern California, draws inspiration from her experience growing up as a first-generation American born to immigrant parents. Lek鈥檚 paintings are acts of remembering, documenting scenes of everyday life within a large Asian family. She paints with a sharp eye for detail, conjuring images that explore issues of home and belonging. Emil Sands, a London-born painter and writer currently living in New York, captures the physical idiosyncrasies of the human body in his large-scale canvases. His semi-nude figures, often viewed from behind, roam in expansive landscapes and open beach settings. In his tender portrayal of flesh, Sands explores the complex relationship between viewer and subject 鈥� between seeing and being seen. Khalif Tahir Thompson, born and based in Brooklyn, invites viewers into the everyday lives of his sitters through large, vibrant canvases. Describing his work as portraiture, many of Thompson鈥檚 paintings are inspired by family photograph albums. Thompson constructs compositions using this familial cast of characters, layering contemporary and cultural references that encourage us to consider notions of race, home, belonging and 鈥� crucially 鈥� how identity is shared.
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Victoria Miro is delighted to present the first significant introduction of three emerging artists, all born in the 1990s, to a London audience.
The Stories We Tell offers a vivid exploration of memory, identity and family through the distinctive lenses of Tidawhitney Lek, Emil Sands, and Khalif Tahir Thompson. Each artist blends autobiographical elements with imagined and historical narratives, uniting their individual stories through a focus on the human figure. Tidawhitney Lek, a Cambodian-American artist based in Southern California, draws inspiration from her experience growing up as a first-generation American born to immigrant parents. Lek鈥檚 paintings are acts of remembering, documenting scenes of everyday life within a large Asian family. She paints with a sharp eye for detail, conjuring images that explore issues of home and belonging. Emil Sands, a London-born painter and writer currently living in New York, captures the physical idiosyncrasies of the human body in his large-scale canvases. His semi-nude figures, often viewed from behind, roam in expansive landscapes and open beach settings. In his tender portrayal of flesh, Sands explores the complex relationship between viewer and subject 鈥� between seeing and being seen. Khalif Tahir Thompson, born and based in Brooklyn, invites viewers into the everyday lives of his sitters through large, vibrant canvases. Describing his work as portraiture, many of Thompson鈥檚 paintings are inspired by family photograph albums. Thompson constructs compositions using this familial cast of characters, layering contemporary and cultural references that encourage us to consider notions of race, home, belonging and 鈥� crucially 鈥� how identity is shared.
Artists on show
