Water Witch Moon Mother

A solo exhibition at Nationale in Portland, OR
November 4 - December 24, 2023
Opening reception Saturday, November 4, 1-3 PM

Artist Talk: Saturday, December 9, 11 AM at Nationale.

Press Release

Nationale is pleased to present Water Witch Moon Mother, Anya Roberts-Toney’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. This new series builds upon the artist’s existing repertoire, delving deeper into the subjects of motherhood and the natural world. The paintings highlight imagined landscapes populated with female figures, bodies of water, and imagery that further codes as feminine—all saturated in the artist’s signature hues of rich purples, blues, and greens. Roberts-Toney constructs new realms of possibility in dialogue with historical depictions of the female body in nature. The painted figures are often blurred, willowy beings that elude interpretation and thus limit our access to them. They could embody a witch, a mother, a mermaid, or all three concurrent truths at once. In turn, the landscapes are activated by way of bold marks and sharp tonalities and exist as independent energetic presences. In this manner, each canvas becomes an arena for otherworldly possibility and each figural silhouette takes on a complexity such that they cannot be fully known.

Intertwined in these depictions of feminine spirituality are elements of danger. Stormy skies, choppy waves, and portals to the unknown are layers of risk that threaten the powerful presence of the subjects. Yet, in the artist’s own words, “to inhabit a mother-body is to be always precarious,” and Roberts-Toney has unwaveringly crafted her works such that they eschew any attempt at passivity. Rather than having one straightforward narrative, she seeks to evoke a sense of multiple possibilities: a spirit will also be a mother, a portal will also be a mirror, a wave of water will also be a claw. In Mother of Pearl, a loosely-depicted pink figure stands under a swirling, omnipresent sky. She’s painted into a vibrant clearing containing an abalone shell, within which lies a purple infant. Is it hers? How did they come to be here? An arched portal appears behind the clearing, and a blue shape, reminiscent of a face, peeks out from behind two trees. We’re left to ponder the nature of these relationships based on their constructed arrangement as both subjects and surveyors. In She Built a Chapel in Her Image, a figure with a rounded belly sits before a glowing, yellow pool. Above her is a wild sky and a vertical, tiered form reminiscent of a fountain. Like Cezanne’s bathers, the figures in Roberts-Toney's painting approach water as a source of potential pleasure. Yet here, the water also suggests the possibility of peril.

This is the underlying complexity of Water Witch Moon Mother. Mother Earth operates by a simple rule of balance. That which enriches can also sting the sharpest. The paintings in this exhibition place the role of the mother at the center of this dichotomy, situating motherhood as a source of beauty, fluidity, and ultimately, power.