This painting is not a direct portrait of a specific person, but is instead drawn from the artist’s lived experience and observation. Sikelela Owen has two young children, and spends a lot of time in parks and at family gatherings, including recent christenings. These moments of everyday intimacy and movement informed the work.
After working with historical family images – particularly the formal portraits in **Edna, Edith, Edlynn, Edlou and Ida** – Owen became interested in what happens outside the frame of those photographs. The original images are composed, still, and carefully presented. *Dancing* imagines the moment after the formal photograph is taken: when bodies relax, movement begins, and joy becomes visible.
The painting depicts a young girl dancing, her body thrown into motion, her head tilted back. Although the person holding her hands is outside the frame, their presence is strongly felt. The composition borrows more from contemporary snapshots than traditional portraiture, capturing a fleeting, bodily moment rather than a posed one.
While the palette remains consistent with the wider exhibition, the handling is faster and more expressive. The work becomes a meditation on childhood as a space of freedom, physicality, and connection – a contrast to the stillness and restraint of the earlier family images. It reflects joy not as an abstract idea, but as something lived through movement, touch, and shared presence.
