Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum The Girls
, 2022 Pencil and oil on wood panel Work: 91 x 91 cm
The Girls is a drawing made with pencil and oil on wood panel. Drawing from the collage technique in Pamela Sunstrum's earlier work, it uses a layered composition to structure narrative. The clasped hands, the checked floors and the overlaid textiles are recurring motifs developed through the large scale work; Dynasty (2021), which was presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto as part of the triennial; GTA 2021. Through this work, Sunstrum presents multiple layers that suggest an overlap between the serene and the cataclysmic — domestic elements such as doors and windows foreground the image upon which the figures sit. At the bottom of the work mountains and hills, rendered in blue, seem to be floating in water. By incorporating different elements alongside one another the work expands outwards, suggesting unconstrained time and place.
