There are many mythologies that describe being swallowed whole and then released back into the world: Cronos and Zeus devouring their kin, Jonah's stint inside the whale, Mungu's moon periodically engulfed by a snake. The swallowing stops time and allows for reflection, growth, preparation, and for the person or deity to be spit back out into the world, anew. In the exhibition An Ocean of Time at Fridman Gallery, Sahana Ramakrishnan's paintings swallow her viewers. They swirl us around in the belly of their layered symbologies and then disgorge us, changed. Within each image, time is suspended. We can choose to float or follow her appealing bread crumbs before tumbling back onto the gallery floors.
-Melissa Joseph
