Saskia Vander

This work is part of Curatorial+Co.'s 2026 group exhibition, 'The Beast In Me'.

Of all the internal mechanisms that drive us, perhaps the most primordial is the beast. We expel the animal, the bodily, the base in favour of the intellect, yet it is the beast that holds what is most irreducibly human—impulses and desires that precede thought: love, rage, care, protection, connection. The very thing we suppress is also the thing that touches what is most vital.

Inspired by the process of metamorphosis—the transformation from an immature form to adulthood observed in many animals—Saskia Vander's 'Morph' explores a human embodiment of this phenomenon, reflecting the transitional period of adolescence and young adulthood. An engulfing tortoise-shell pattern appears to burrow beneath the subject’s skin, emerging through layered applications of acrylic and oil paint. The striking yellow glow of the eye was achieved by inverting its tonal values, painting negative values onto positive and subverting traditional approaches to portraiture. This visual disruption suggests a transformation taking hold from within; yet despite the apparent infestation, the figure’s exterior remains calm and at ease within the tension of change.