Alyina Zaidi (b. 1995, New Delhi, India) holds an MA in painting from the Royal College Of Art, London and a BA from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY; Newchild Gallery, Antwerp, BE; Indigo + Madder Gallery, London, UK; Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK; and White Cube, London, UK, among others. Zaidi is a London-based artist from New Delhi and Srinagar. This is Zaidi’s first solo show with the gallery, following her inclusion in the gallery’s group show Katja Farin, Maria Farrar, Esme Hodsoll, Alyina Zaidi (March 1-April 5, 2023).

In Lost in the belly of a whale, Zaidi establishes stronger narrative threads with more action than her previous work. Here, nomadic white strawberries attempt to herd their goats and are at war with imperial frogs. In the top left register of Facts and hearsay—an encyclopaedia of various natural and less natural phenomena, these frogs steal the moon. Angels purchase Moons for sale and, in Dubious benediction, guard pickle jars of frogs and moons. On occasion, the unreliable nature of history emerges where portions of the composition are swallowed by dark orbs Zaidi calls “the cave of the unknown.” These nebulous scenes offer a mode of abstraction for the artist and indicate that there is more to learn about this universe.

Further embracing reality-warping unknowns, Zaidi’s paintings are filled with magic and mythology. As in previous work by the artist, cherry tomatoes and radishes become spirits, angels with opulent tentacled wings populate most paintings, chilis hang to ward off the evil eye, and rituals are performed around the moon for luck. New supernatural elements in this body of work include poltergeists who lurk in windows and sacred trees. In Zaidi’s painting Euphemia and the assassin, she alludes to a version of the story of Saint Euphemia’s martyrdom in which she was thrown into an arena with lions meant to kill her. In the Islamic tradition of indirect representation, rather than painting Euphemia as a person, Zaidi paints her as a bejeweled textile surrounded by lacy fabric. In a playful rendition of the tale, here, Euphemia is cradled in a hammock of lions’ tails.