MATRIX 289 / Zeinab Saleh: Signs of a softer world

For her first solo museum exhibition in the United States, Zeinab Saleh (b. 1996, Nairobi; lives and works in London) debuts a new group of paintings that present a meditative perspective on the everyday, bringing viewers into a world that is at once subtle and hazy, yet strikingly clear and rich in detail. MATRIX 289 / Zeinab Saleh: Signs of a softer world creates an environment of slowness and quietude, offering a space of respite amidst a world so often filled with confusion and chaos. Throughout her work, Saleh approaches painting with a sense of material experimentation, drawing on histories of abstraction and techniques familiar to printmaking. The artist places objects directly onto the canvas and uses washes of acrylic paint to create impressions from plants and textiles. These are then layered with her delicate brushwork and ethereal color palette. Many of Saleh's paintings draw on her own personal memory, referencing familiar domestic spaces and depicting images or objects taken from her own life. Yet her paintings demonstrate the possibility of connection even in the unfamiliar. Through her distinctive use of color and light, Saleh transforms the spaces in her paintings, inviting viewers to project their own narratives of individual contemplation.