Four Artists Dismantle the Boundaries of “Immigrant”
Raul De Lara, Shanique Emelife, Sihan Guo, and Tahnee Lonsdale challenge conservatism through explorations of migration, spirituality, and interconnectedness.
by Petala Ironcloud 
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Shanique Emelife’s work is also deeply rooted in a shared immigrant experience. Her paintings center on her family’s homeland of Nigeria and its otherworldly lore. “Ifee’s Fear” portrays her young mother standing in a red-earth courtyard of their enclosed village, positioned next to her older sister. “The Door” initially appears to focus on a simple cement, clay, and corrugated metal entryway flecked with geckos, as if the door itself were the subject. But its position opposite “Ifee” hints at deeper meaning. Upon closer inspection, the door reveals the vague outline of a figure — an ominous presence that reflects the “fear” of the work across from it. Meanwhile, “Absence” and “African Sun” provide aerial views of the village and the intense sunlight, suggesting an incorporeal presence that, by their proximity to the other works, ties into the threads of foreboding and memory.
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Collectivity is also found in Tahnee Lonsdale’s paintings, which depict a covenant of ethereal, feminine figures. Rendered in hues of blue and red or yellow and orange, these figures evoke either a sense of guardianship or an eerie otherworldliness. Lonsdale achieves this effect with lace-thin layers of paint, creating a spectral presence. Only the eyes, hands, and feet of figures are distinct, guiding the viewer’s interpretation of these interconnected beings as arbiters of faith in gender, identity, and the generational cycles of womanhood.
Sihan Guo’s phantasmagorical paintings also cascade with precise yet fluid textures, evoking ethereal beings, clouds, and mycorrhizal networks. Drawing inspiration from the textured interplay of Mark Bradford, the layered symbolism of Julie Mehretu, and the vivid, hallucinogenic palettes of contemporary art, Guo combines translucent washes of pigment with bold, tactile strokes and controlled drips, building a dynamic tension between precision and chance, depth and surface. Inspired by ecological systems and spiritual phenomena, her work blurs the lines between the natural and the intangible, embodying Freud’s observation that “Our unconscious…behaves as if it were immortal,” and offering a vision of interconnected existence beyond human and digital constraints.
The works in this exhibition collectively dismantle the boundaries imposed by the narrow designation of “immigrant” in the United States, embracing instead a globalized, interconnected ethos. De Lara’s wooden monstera sculptures signify both personal and ecological migration, while Emelife, Lonsdale, and Guo explore the interplay between human and transcendental forms, challenging Western spiritual and cultural binaries. Together, these artists offer a dynamic rebuke to the conservative ideologies of their surroundings, asserting the enduring strength, complexity, and beauty inherent in their lived experiences and work.
Raul De Lara, Shanique Emelife, Sihan Guo, Tahnee Lonsdale continues at Alexander Berggruen (1018 Madison Avenue, Floor 3, Upper East Side, Manhattan) through January 15, 2025.
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