Janiva Ellis presents her first institutional solo exhibition in Europe, 'Geneva', at Kunsthalle Basel. The show features a new body of paintings that draw from popular culture, art-historical traditions, and collective memory, exploring themes of visibility, disappearance, and the instability of meaning. The exhibition runs until 9 August 2026.
This exhibition matters because it marks a significant career milestone for Ellis, bringing her critical interrogation of inherited cultural myths and figuration to a major European institution. Her work challenges dominant narratives around power, history, and identity, reinforcing painting's capacity to question certainty and provoke new ways of seeing.