Beyond the Visible I: Becoming

by Olaug Vethal

• Vinyl acrylics on paper
• 29.5cm by 42cm
• 32.8cm by 45.3cm framed
• c. 1995-2006

In Beyond the Visible I: Becoming, Olaug Vethal enters into dialogue with the bijin-ga tradition of Kitagawa Utamaro, whose intimate portraits of women used the face, gaze and gesture to evoke
psychological presence.

Vethal transforms the refined clarity of the Japanese print through an expressive language of sweeping colour and physical brushwork. The woman’s face emerges from vivid fields of orange, green and black, while the boundaries between figure and surrounding space remain fluid and unresolved.

Within Vethal’s metaphysical world, this instability becomes a state of becoming. The figure is neither fully formed nor dissolving, but suspended between states, as though identity itself is continually being created. The visible face becomes a threshold to something less tangible: an inner self that exists beyond physical appearance.

This work is currently hung at Spazju A, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta until 25th October 2026 as part of the exhibition ‘Beyond The Visible | The Metaphysical Worlds of Olaug Vethal, curated by Christine Xuereb and in collaboration with Christine X Art Gallery