Reflections from a Life on Hold: Solo Exhibition
by Emirhan Saribay’s London dreamscape in acrylic, The exhibition opens with a private viewing cocktail on Thursday, 5 February 2026 at 6pm.
In a city that rarely pauses, there is something quietly radical about work that asks you to slow down and actually look. Not at the skyline, not at the headlines, but at the way light sits on water for half a second before the current breaks it apart.
That is the invitation at Reflections from A Life On Hold, the solo exhibition by Emirhan Saribay, a Turkish queer artist living in London for more than three years, whose painting practice is shaped by cultural movement, emotional in-betweens, and the visual poetry of nature observed up close.
A “roaring twenties” seen through still water
The press release frames Saribay as an artist witnessing the “new roaring twenties” geographically and socially, and that context matters. It suggests a life lived between worlds, where identity is not a fixed point but a shifting reflection: a surface that changes depending on light, distance, and the viewer’s angle.
Rather than illustrate that experience literally, Saribay lets nature do the talking. Reflections become the language. Water becomes both mirror and distortion, a metaphor with teeth: it shows you something real, then immediately breaks it up.
From landscapes in oil to abstraction in acrylic
Saribay’s evolution is part of the story. The release notes a transition from oil landscape painting into abstract works in acrylic, still tied strongly to nature, but less concerned with describing a scene and more concerned with translating a sensation.
That shift feels like moving from “this is what I saw” to “this is what it did to me.”
Acrylic, with its speed and layering potential, suits that intent. It can hold translucency, build depth quickly, and capture the sharpness of a moment. It is a medium that can behave like water: thin, pooled, opaque, streaked, interrupted.
Nature’s point of view: what would a tree see?
The conceptual hook is beautifully simple and slightly surreal. Saribay is inspired by reflections on water during walks in London parks, then asks a question that flips the usual gaze: what would it look like to see a tree’s own reflection in a pond? How would the sky see itself in the River Thames and its “strong currents”?
Why it matters right now
There is a specific kind of loneliness to living “between” cultures, and also a specific kind of freedom. Work like Saribay’s does not ask you to pick one clear narrative. It lets you hold contradictions: clarity and blur, identity and flux, nature and city, stillness and motion.
Reflections from A Life On Hold reads like a reminder that sometimes the most honest image is the one that refuses to stay still.
Private view details
The exhibition opens with a private viewing cocktail on Thursday, 5 February 2026 at 6pm. Entry requires booking a free ticket via Eventbrite or the venue website.
If you want to connect with the artist directly,
Saribay’s Instagram is linked as well.