Magic is everywhere for artist Shani Leseman: in our dreams, our experiences, and the world around us. In the exhibition In Between Worlds, she invites visitors to experience how painting can serve as a bridge between daily reality and the dream world. The exhibition at 38CC is her first solo presentation and it brings together new and earlier works. In addition to paintings, Leseman also presents monotypes, ceramics, glass objects, videos, and wall paintings.
Talismagic
In her work, Leseman explores the role of magic and the supernatural in everyday life. Her practice is deeply influenced by brua, a spiritual tradition from the Antillean culture in which she grew up. This way of magical thinking forms an essential foundation for her work. This is also the case in her series Talismagic, [1] which consists of 100 ceramic talismans. They are based on milagros: small metal figures used to express gratitude or to request protection. Each talisman in the series has its own function: for example, to ward off gossip, to ensure a stable income, or to preserve memories.
Reflections on Some of My Latest Dreams
Dreams play a central role in Leseman’s work. Sometimes quite literally, when she envisions the color, form, or title of a new painting in a dream. Other works are more reflective: Leseman uses them as a way to grasp and process her dreams through drawing and painting. For years, she has kept a dream diary, which she analyzes through the lens of philosopher Marie-Louise von Franz, a former student of Jung, who viewed dreams as messages from the unconscious. In Reflections on some of my latest dreams [2] (2025), Leseman combines image and text in a book of monotypes on cotton silk, where personal and universal stories intertwine. The text in the book arises from an exercise in automatic writing, in which word associations help to explore what lies hidden in the subconscious.
Floating
Leseman’s paintings flow, breathe, and speak; just like the world they emerge from. She listens to her works and lets them guide her, often leading the painting to take an unexpected direction. Floating was born from such a dialogue between artist and canvas. Initially dominated by earthy tones, the painting appeared in a vivid blue in one of her dreams, a sign she followed in the studio. She used handmade paint made from Reckitt’s Blue, a bluing agent traditionally used in Curaçao for protection against jealousy, curses, and misfortune.
She’s So Lucky
She’s a Star
Leseman makes her own paints from earth pigments that she has found, bought, or received. Some sources are known, such as soil from Kassel or nettle from the garden near her studio, while others remain more mysterious. Unlike synthetic materials, these inks stay alive; once applied to canvas or wall, their colors continue to shift under the influence of sunlight and each other, becoming deeper or more fleeting over time. Although she works with traditional materials, Leseman’s paintings are firmly connected to present time. Born around the turn of the millennium, her earthly paintings occasionally carry a touch of Y2K aesthetics. For example, in the subtle use of metallic paint from the discount store Action, or in the title of a Britney Spears pop song.
Monotypes
Over the past year Leseman has created a series of monotypes, a technique in which she presses a painted glass plate onto fabric. It is an unpredictable process where material and method strongly influence the outcome. The image is mirrored, parts of the paint remain behind, and layers blend in a new order. It is similar to opening a ceramic kiln: each result is a surprise. The monotypes offer Leseman a new way to give tangible form to the layered nature of fleeting experiences: the moment of printing becomes a threshold where the temporary image takes on a lasting form.
Women, animals, spirits
Leseman’s works are inhabited by female archetypes, animals, and spirits. In her recent monotype series, women appear as witches, angels, and fortune tellers. Animals act as messengers and spiritual guides; for instance, she created See You When I See You in memory of her late dog Logan. In The Animals and their Witch, she turns her focus to the relationship between humans and other animals, whom she regards as individuals deserving of full and meaningful lives. Recently, she has also drawn inspiration from nineteenth-century spirit photography, as well as images of auras and other paranormal phenomena.
Meeting Etna
Through video as well, Leseman explores how to form connections with her surroundings. Meeting Etna documents her encounter with Mount Etna in Sicily. The video interweaves image, text, and painting into a visual diary portraying the volcano as a living being. Together with artist Trees Heil, Leseman poses questions to Etna and receives answers through their dreams. For Leseman visiting Etna is as much a part of her artistic practice as painting itself: both are ritual acts through which she seeks meaningful connection with another entity.