In Studio With Síomha Harrington: Challenging Pleasure and Pain

New Wave Magazine is proud to introduce a new art-related series ‘In Studio With’.  This series has the aim of introducing emerging artists who we think should be on your radar. With these articles, we aim to challenge the narrative that only acclaimed and established art is worth talking about. This series shifts the focus to young and new creatives, who are provoking and defying today’s art scene. 

Who better to start this series off than Síomha Harrington, an emerging artist already on the radar of several London galleries. 

Síomha Harrington in her studio, photo by 

Síomha Harrington, pronounced Sheeva, is a painter based in Brighton, where she went to university. After working full time in confinement at home because of COVID, she applied to a painting course at university through clearing, feeling like she needed time to paint; ‘So far I had just been making myself paint for a few hours after work, but it felt like I was forcing myself, and I could see that my technique was worsening because of it.’ 

After graduating in 2023 and taking some time to find her marks,the past 12 months was the first time she was fully focused on working with galleries and exhibiting her art.. ‘I still feel very new to this, but I also feel like this is the year that has taught me the most. I have been painting for a while but once it becomes your full-time job you realize that there are so many more aspects to it than just painting.’

Her first year was indeed quite full of achievements; after getting into new contemporaries in 2024, she then went on to do group shows with the Gillian Jason Gallery and be part of Saatchi Yates gallery’s acclaimed exhibition ‘Once Upon A Time in London’. 

‘When I was first asked I couldn’t believe it. It was so crazy to see my art alongside so many artists I’ve been looking up to for years. My mum was sending me photos of artist studies that I did back in school of lots of the artists whose work was being shown in the same room as mine, which is something I never would have imagined back then. It was pretty overwhelming being in such a monumental show, especially with the opening night being such a huge event, I was just in awe.’ 

I had done university exhibitions before or open calls but this year was the first time that galleries reached out to me. I think that in the past I didn’t necessarily feel ready and I was focused on really learning the technicalities of painting. Whereas now I feel quite secure in my identity as an artist and confident to show what I do.’

'Valley of the Sure', Síomha Harrington, oil on Canvas, 60 x 80cm, 2024.

All of these opportunities are well-deserved, as Síomha’s art is as edge-cutting as they come. With an intense and dark palette, her works talk of the power dynamics that take place in trauma and emotional bonds through nude female figures harboring domination symbols such as chains or latex accessories. 

‘My work explores power dynamics and the relationship between pleasure and pain, or intimacy and detachment, and is mostly figurative. I’m trying to navigate complexities and investigate how vulnerability, desire and control co-exist and influence one another. I use painting as a way of processing; my thoughts, memories or anxieties. These are all complex and varied themes, but there is of course still thread joining them all together; it’s both about processing it all and what comes out of it at the end’

But bold themes and representation sometimes come with strong reactions. Síomha shared that she has also people who called it uncomfortable: ‘I really enjoy seeing how people react to what I do because I think that what a person will see in it depends on their personal experiences’.

'The Waiting Room', Oil on Canvas, 45 x 80cm, 2024, Síomha Harrington.

She also shared that the representation of nude women is something that was challenging to her, because she didn’t want the sexual undertones of her paintings to dictate the way her figures appear.

‘I think about the question of the objectification of women’s bodies a lot- I think it’s important to question why we’re so often drawn to nudity in portraits and be aware of the impact. But I feel comfortable with the art I make. I feel very much in control, mostly using my own body as reference. I try to create imagery which has nuance and compassion, rather than objectification. The work is earnest and that’s what matters to me. A naked body is not inherently erotic. Sometimes it’s just a naked body. Other times it is sexual, it’s a part of life.’

And that is exactly the fluidity she is attracted to; how do we deal with naked bodies or sexual undertones as artists and viewers? ‘There are many women artists I look up to who have been called anti-feminist because they depicted women in a sexual way. 

‘But I think that the focus should be on representation of women that is nuanced and real or aware, and sexuality is part of that. The Madonna/Whore complex is subconsciously part of so much of the media and ideology that we consume, any art that challenges this binary way of thinking is a good thing.’

With works that challenge the usual emotional and sexual narrative, Síomha entered the art scene a year ago, and is already at the front line of the industry. Through her immediately recognizable style and depiction of women through the dynamics of pleasure and pain, she is without a doubt one of the big artists of tomorrow. 

‘The Many Within Her’, Síomha Harrington, Gillian Jason Gallery