Johanna Mirabel
Gallery Nathalie Obadia is pleased to present, I Wish, Johanna Mirabel’s first solo exhibition in Brussels opening on September 4, 2025, following her show last year at the gallery’s Beaubourg location. In her new exhibition, Johanna Mirabel explores the motif of ex-voto, focusing in particular on their potential for symbolic interweaving. Also known as votive paintings, these naïve representations—often created as tokens of gratitude to a spiritual force—are found throughout the history of painting. They first emerged in medieval Europe and later appeared in Latin America and Mexico in the 19th century. Called retablos or láminas in Mexico, ex-voto blend Spanish Catholic heritage with pre-Columbian traditions, embodying a tension between the sacred and the profane. They often depict scenes of disaster, healing, or other signs of miraculous intervention. A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2019, Johanna Mirabel is a French artist of Guyanese descent whose work is gaining increasing recognition on both the French and international art scenes. She was awarded the Ritzau Art Prize in New York (2022), the Emerige grant in Paris (2023), and the CPGA Etant Donné prize in Miami (2024). In general, Johanna Mirabel’s paintings depict figures occupying domestic spaces that often open onto a dreamlike exterior. The interiors in which the figures evolve call on the artist’s memories, from Guyanese houses to New York brownstones from the Harlem Renaissance. Childhood memories and recent experiences enter in dialogue at the heart of the pictorial surface, creating syncretic universes. Born in Colombes (France) in 1991, Johanna Mirabel lives and works in Paris (France).
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