Her paintings weave through traces of personal history, urban skylines and internal architectures

In her first solo presentation at Saskia Fernando Gallery, Shaanea Mendis traverses through grief and loss to embrace renewal in the meditative act of mark-making.

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In Remember to Breathe, Shaanea Mendis draws on the quiet, cyclical process of renewal to chart her own journey of healing. After the passing of her father, Shaanea Mendis allowed grief in its rawest form to guide her practice. Her intricate 'cellscapes' are imagined organic structures that emerge through careful mark making, inspired by the textures observed in the natural world such as the grain of skin and the veins of leaves. These biological forms are both dense and expansive, inviting the viewer into a soft contemplation.