Liquid Histories: Calida Rawles on “Black Americans’ Complicated Relationship with Water”

“I think for the most part water would be a character. In some works it takes on an energy or mood of its own. It has so many layers and small compositions inside of it. I just love it. Obviously. [Laughs]”

For Los Angeles-based artist Calida Rawles, water isn’t a backdrop. A reoccurring character in her oeuvre, it’s alive, an ever-shifting presence that shapes her paintings and how we perceive the Black bodies submerged and floating in them. In her first UK solo exhibition, This Time Before Tomorrow, on view at Lehmann Maupin in London until 29 September, Rawles expands her exploration of water as symbol and form, stretching her practice into more abstract territory while continuing to delve into the liquid’s social history.

“Black Americans have a complicated and often precarious relationship with water,” she tells me. “From the transatlantic slave trade, where countless lives were lost at sea, to the Jim Crow era, when segregation barred access to pools, beaches, and even water fountains, water has been bound up with historical trauma. At the same time, water holds profound spiritual significance – used in baptisms as a symbol of cleansing, renewal, and purity. For those who swim, particularly within middle and upper-class communities, water can also serve as a place of refuge, leisure, and relaxation.”

In this new body of work, Rawles conceals the faces of her subjects, a departure from her earlier paintings. “By removing the face, the figure becomes universal, no longer tied to one individual but open to representing humanity as a whole. In this way, I feel the work speaks to shared truths and experiences rather than those of a single group.” Her figures drift, fold, and sometimes dissolve, their presence unmoored from any particular identity yet resonant with human vulnerability.

This move toward abstraction is at once intuitive and deliberate. “I’ve been feeling ready to loosen up for a while now,” she explains. “I’m excited about the direction of my new work and eager to keep pushing myself further into abstraction. That’s one of the main reasons I love painting bodies in water – water naturally abstracts the figure, allowing the form to be transformed in countless ways. Maybe I’ll eventually push it to the point where water is no longer necessary. I’m not sure, but I’m excited to see where both my mind and body will take me.”

Colour, too, is central to how Rawles navigates this shift. “I usually begin a series by creating a baseline colour palette. I already have a sense of the mood I want to convey, and hue becomes a key factor in setting that tone. But as the work develops, new colour combinations emerge, and I instinctively respond – adding, layering, and pushing the palette in unexpected directions.” The works in This Time Before Tomorrow lean into deep contrasts of dark and light – and in the shadows, bubbles glint like stars. When I ask Rawles about the role of performance in her process, the artist shares: “I do stage the looks and have an idea in mind as I set up a shoot. As you know I photograph my subject first and use the images as reference shots for the paintings. I’m always trying to capture motion and a feeling…”

Preparing for this show, Rawles revisited writers as varied as Joseph Campbell, Camus, and Paulo Coelho. “They are prompts and companions at various times,” she says. “When I painted All is One, for example, Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey was very present in my mind. Mythological motifs of transformation and symbolism began to surface as ideas – I wanted to bring in elements of fire, water, and wind. I even thought of the Bodhi tree, weaving its presence into the figure’s hair, which echoed the impression of branches connecting the two figures. In that case, the text actively pushed the image forward. Other times, stories linger more quietly in the background, keeping me grounded and preventing me from overthinking as I create.”

In This Time Before Tomorrow, Rawles’ figures no longer meet us face-to-face, eye-to-eye, yet their presence is no less commanding. In loosening her grip on realism, the artist opens space for ambiguity, for the in-between states of being that reflect both the weight of history and the possibility of renewal. She invites viewers to engage with the space between past and present, and to lean into the experience of being in flux. The result is a rich wellspring for reimagining both our interior lives and the world around us.



Feature image: Calida Rawles, Refraction, 2025. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, and London. Photo by Marten Elder.