In Kelly Sinnapah Mary’s “The Book of Violette: The Boots,” a woman and boy gaze in open-mouthed surprise at a pair of purple, calf-height boots. It wasn’t clear to me upon my first look why they might be awestruck by footwear. However elsewhere within the exhibition The E book of Violette at James Cohan Gallery (all work 2025), “The Book of Violette: Moving Mountains” depicts an older model of the woman flying by the daytime sky hoisting a mass of mountainside above her head, timber dangling from it askew and a small tiger wanting mournfully on the viewer. I take this character as godlike not solely due to her supernatural feat of energy, but in addition her lengthy, furry tail and three eyes. I learn that the reference is prone to Durga, a significant Hindu goddess related to motherhood, safety, and destruction. Maybe the kids in “The Boots” know that the footwear holds transformative energy, as in fairy tales the place donning a pair of sneakers modifications the wearer’s destiny or provides them superhuman skills.
“The Book of Violette: Auntie Maryse” is a frontal portrait of the woman, or her relative, as an grownup, carrying a white costume and a tiara, her six arms in various positions. Symbols of her girlhood are left on the bottom: black Mary Jane sneakers with white socks standing straight, as if the physique’s reminiscence held them upright, and a blue ribbon as soon as worn in her hair, which seems in a number of different depictions within the present. The portraits largely characteristic Sinnapah Mary’s schoolgirl avatar, Sanbras, who has appeared in earlier exhibitions. Right here, Sanbras is proven in assorted incarnations, together with this vegetal model wherein she has a human head with lengthy, ribboned braids atop a plant stalk whose dangling roots bloodlessly pierce the auntie’s arms. Maybe this marks her as a martyr, like too many ladies who sacrificed their powers to take up the quotidian position of bride or home accomplice.
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Book of Violette: The Boots” (2025), acrylic on canvas
Sinnapah Mary’s hybrid heritage has been a lot mentioned in artwork criticism — she has South Indian roots and grew up within the French Caribbean territory of Guadalupe with an Indo-Caribbean identification. Definitely, the recurring strategy of utilizing her characters’ darkish pores and skin as a background for a toile sample depicting leafy inexperienced flora and extra colourful fauna evokes this. It’s as if the land is imprinted on them, marking them as undeniably belonging to the Caribbean.
However extra is happening right here. The varied iterations of Sanbras allude to a burgeoning womanhood at a crossroads of celestial being and commonality. One model of Sanbras has 5 heads (“The Book of Violette: Anchored”); in one other, “Invisible Vegetation of Desire,” a unadorned Violette lies susceptible on the grass, her watchful head turned towards the viewer, ready to see what is going to occur subsequent. This determine of womanhood is protean. She is many individuals. The present is called to honor the artist’s grandmother, portray a narrative about Violette that the grandmother didn’t write about herself — one wherein she flew and have become all of the creatures of her goals.
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Book of Violette: Invisible Vegetation of Desire” (2025)
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Book of Violette: Moving Mountains” (2025), acrylic on canvas
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Fables of Sanbras: The Conquest” (2024), paper, steel, mortar, and acrylic paint
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, “The Book of Violette: The Great Camouflage” (2025), acrylic on canvas
Kelly Sinnapah Mary: The E book of Violette continues at James Cohan Gallery (48 Walker Avenue, Tribeca, Manhattan) by March 22. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
