Oil painter Nneka Uzoigwe-Davies has been weaving her own cosmology. Through enhanced research and skills, hundreds of years and millions of miles of visions interwoven with reflective meanings are condensed into one brush stroke, giving form to the worlds only she can glimpse in dreams. Her unsurpassed paintings are a testament to the hallucinatory aftermath of her archive fever and goes beyond the figment of imaginative history. An avid collector, she surrounds herself with the talismanic properties of objects and theatrically places them in contexts in which her dreams, connections and patterns are stitched together to embody her memories. Nneka’s graceful show 'Sulphur' displayed the incarnation of little scenes and dreams captured instinctively within the pages of her precious journal, with each painting displaying the archive of her private world. The shadow and technique used in her work reflects the lighting of a single match: a fragile, momentous chance to witness these sequences. 'Wax Figure' focused on one of the many elements of a painting (eponymously titled 'Sulphur' alluding to the aforementioned match) and contains a precious collaboration between Nneka and myself: by asking me to create the candle’s outfit with my archive of antique clothing and subsequently posing as the figure, we meshed our experiences and hopes together.  Nneka was immortalising her explorations of fleeting sights but what she remained unaware of was the strength she was melting onto me. Here I was becoming a strong elemental something. She was lighting her own fire onto subject and reinforcing what was being diminished outside of her painterly world. 'Wax Figure' is the most vibrant way one can illustrate how much a singular painter has given a friend indelible sturdiness, with treasured cloth as the starting point of this armour. With those she paints and protects, Nneka behaves like a fate deciding on the impregnability of newfound resistance. Scenes from 'Sulphur' show iterations of her prospective futures, and her future pregnancy and well-deserved stability was awaiting with open arms.

‘Magic, dreams and the imagination underpin Nneka’s work. This becomes clear as you are drawn further into each painting. At first glance a scene appears recognisable, familiar, ‘normal’, but as you step closer you realise how generous these paintings are: earrings made from oranges, shell doorknobs and knitted pears are just a few of the eccentric details that transport the viewer into Nneka’s imagination.’