Pamela Phatsimo SunstrumScene 3, 2024
‘Scene 3’ forms part of Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum’s celebrated body of work commissioned for her solo exhibition ‘It Will End in Tears’ at the Barbican Centre’s The Curve Gallery. The series draws from a wide array of influences including classical portraiture, film noir, theatre, and Sunstrum’s own experiences across multiple geographies. With richly layered surfaces and cinematic staging, the paintings explore the complexities of identity, interiority, and the performance of self. Her figures often appear caught in moments of stillness or transition, positioned between visibility and opacity, intimacy and distance.
The composition echoes the framing devices and dramatic lighting found in mid-twentieth century cinema, drawing inspiration from directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Elia Kazan. Through this lens, Sunstrum revisits and reframes the figure of the femme fatale – not as a flat stereotype, but as a multidimensional character shaped by broader social and historical forces.
