Debra Cartwright: Somatic Domain

Fridman Gallery is honored to announce Somatic Domain, Debra Cartwright’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. 

Cartwright explores the historical and cultural perceptions of the female body in relation to American medicine through painting and mixed media. Grounded in research on the abhorrent practices of J. Marion Sims—the so-called “father” of American gynecology who performed experimental surgeries on enslaved Black women—her work is also shaped by her upbringing as the daughter of a gynecologist.

Transcending the legacy of violence and stolen selfhood, Cartwright’s  artworks make space for re-embodiment, myth, and intimacy. In her delicate yet arresting watercolors and paintings, the abstracted figures morph into dancer-like silhouettes. Each figure begins to claim her own story, her own presence. The work invites a quiet, personal connection—an act of sensual remembrance.