Mim Libro’s work drifts between light and shadow. Spirits, cherubs, and childlike motifs rise to the surface, yet beneath them lies an undercurrent of longing, escape, and the desire to step outside one’s own body. The paintings are rooted in memory, showing the playfulness of childhood through a darker lens, where wonder and imagination exist as both sanctuary and disguise.

This sense of balance between light and dark is embodied in her range - while larger works move in greyscale, their shadows charged with unease, the colourful creatures on paper feel like guides or guardians, offering a sense of reprieve. Libro’s use of airbrush gives these figures a softness, a fresh haze, as if they hover just out of reach.

Playing Make Believe embraces play as an act of departure and return. It presents a chance to slip into another mode, to wander imagined worlds, to break free from that which feels permanent and immovable. These works ask you to dwell in that threshold - between shadow and light, sorrow and joy, self and other and to make room beyond yourself.

-

Written by Maya Honey-Holmes