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Sikelela Owen RA: WEST PALM BEACH | SALON

Current exhibition
1 - 28 February 2026 West Palm Beach
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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Sikelela Owen, Babula Bebe and Gogo, 2025

This painting depicts Sikelela Owen's younger son, Ethan – known as *Bebbe*, a nickname given to him by his older brother Eli – asleep on Owen's mother. He has just been successfully soothed and settled in her *babula*, the same carrying cloth that appears in the previous works.

 

Unlike **Babola Eli and Gogo**, which captures the tension of a child resisting sleep, this image shows the moment after. The body is fully at rest, soft and unguarded. The pose is simple and innocent, marked by trust and physical closeness. 

 

Although the scene takes place indoors, the textiles introduce a strong sense of colour and vitality. The green leaf pattern of the cloth brings an almost outdoor energy into the space, while the pink of the mother’s top – a colour the artist rarely uses – adds warmth and tenderness to the palette. These fabrics become compositional anchors, as important as the figures themselves. 

 

The painting continues Owen's growing interest in textiles, patterns, and weaving as forms of visual and emotional connection. Here, fabric functions not just as surface or decoration, but as something that holds bodies, memory, and care together.

 

As the final work in the exhibition, **Babula, Bebbe and Gogo** feels like a moment of resolution: sleep after movement, stillness after play, and a return to the most basic gesture of all – being held.

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Exhibitions

Salon, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, 1 - 28 February 2026
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  • Sikelela Owen RA

    Sikelela Owen RA

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LONDON (TOWER BRIDGE) 

Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery 

36 Tanner Street

London SE1 3LD 

+44 (0) 20 39046349

Mon–Sat: 11am–6pm

 

BERLIN

Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery

Mercator Höfe
Potsdamer Str. 77-87
10785 Berlin

+49 30-49950912
Tues–Sat: 11am–6pm

WEST PALM BEACH

Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery

2414 Florida Avenue

West Palm Beach, FL 

33401 USA

+1 (561) 922-8688

Tues-Sat: 11am-6pm

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