The exhibition Coming Home is rooted in an exploration of Sophia Bharmal’s British Indian Muslim background and a questioning of where to call home? As a second generation immigrant she has been brought up in a country that her mother does not relate to. This condition has led to a constant attempt to reconcile contrasting environments. The oil pastel drawings she creates introduce these reconciliations through new make belief landscapes, overflowing with different depictions of home. The drawings pull strongly from the complexity of heritage, her colonial past and present, the nearer horrors of associated extremism within the Islamic community and the position and impact on women. 

Women, in particular, are the focal point of these worlds. They are shown in constant navigation and search for autonomy within differing cultures. Sophia considers herself a visual mirror, attempting to break down pre-assumed notions and unapologetically representing the unfamiliar everydayness and struggles of life in her world. Using combined natural landscapes and unconventional architecture she tells stories rooted in the realities of being a Muslim woman yet distorted within a placeless paradise. 

Sophia’s body of work explores these themes through large-scale oil pastel and oil stick drawings. The layering of colour, fragmented detailing and multidimensionality of the pieces is used to evoke a tension and tightness. Craving an understanding of the constant negotiation and claustrophobia felt in existing within these carefully balanced environments. Colour in this work casts an aura of South Asian and Muslim tradition represented through textiles, pattern and food, veiling over the damaging features of these communities. Initial perceptions of these worlds is something beautiful, rich with vibrancy and enjoyable, enticing the viewer further inwards for examination. However as the composition comes into focus an awareness of conflict existing outside the space of the drawing becomes clear. What is presented are tangible scenarios which exhibit a movement into safe spaces for women to decompress and refute the oppression, undervaluing and objectification experiences in their day to day lives.