New Year, Who This?
New Year, Who This?
Group show
24 Jan – 23 Mar 2025
Hama Gallery is proud to present New Year, Who This? , a group show in which we welcome five new artists into our space for 2025. This exhibition hints to the New Year’s resolutions often tied to the New Year — a time to reflect, reset, and imagine new possibilities for the year ahead. At the same time, it nods to the gallery’s own journey as we debut these talented new names. With works spanning photography, textiles, paintings and ceramics, this exhibition showcases a broad range of creative practices, each bringing a distinct perspective and approach. What unifies them is their ability to spark new connections and conversations. New Year, Who This? , is about welcoming what’s ahead and embracing new ideas and beginnings.
Arnetia Abbigail
Arnetia Abbigail’s work blends bold colours with dynamic forms into vibrant textile art. Her creative process begins with intuitive sketches, which evolve into striking compositions. Drawing from her background in interior design, she brings a meticulous sense of spatial harmony to each piece. Arnetia finds inspiration in the creatives around her and collects these observations that push the boundaries of her own creative practice. Her Surinamese background subtly weaves into her art, often appearing unconsciously through the addition of traditional fabrics and beads. Each creation becomes both a personal reflection of her inner world and yet remains open to new meanings and reflections.
Laila Cohen
Laila Cohen is a photographer and art director based in Amsterdam, whose work finds itself somewhere between fiction and non-fiction through intimate narratives and imagined worlds. With a deep personal interest in fluidity, identity, and intersectionality, Laila’s practice reflects her ongoing self-discovery through art. Through this understanding, she is able to connect to her subjects and capture their essence. Her work is also characterized by her fascination for people who exist outside of binaries and move through the world with freedom in their expression. Laila intuitively looks for simple shapes and environments, that touch viewers and evoke a sense of intimacy. Her strong use of light, composition and space, allows her to create dream-like atmospheres, that capture in-between spaces — those unseen, transformative spaces that shift perspectives.
Isabel Velasquez
Artist Isabel Velasquez’s vibrant, figurative oil paintings explore themes of identity, belonging, and community. Drawn to the richness and depth of oil paint, she embraces the slow, meditative process it offers — blending colours seamlessly and building layers of texture to capture the complexity of her themes. Isabel’s work reflects her personal journey of navigating cultural duality while capturing the essence of the people and stories around her. In this exhibition, she presents a series of portraits featuring durags — a cultural symbol of style, pride and above all care for black hair. By contrasting the softness of the silk-like textures with masculinity and bold colours, her paintings evoke a sense of curiosity. Through her use of light, composition, and colour, Isabel’s work is both an acknowledgement of individuality and a nod to shared connections.
Chiara Caselli & Francesco Carrasso
Born from the collaboration of creative duo Chiara Caselli and Francesco Carrasso, CCONTINUA+MAMT investigates the inherent primitivism of matter through a language that is both poetic and figurative. Chiara, in her project CCONTINUA, draws on her architectural practice with clean lines, textures, and a focus on the rituals embedded in everyday objects. Francesco, also known as MAMT, draws inspiration from graffiti, Hip-Hop culture and primitivism, bringing a vivid, instinctive style that blends figurative elements with dreamlike narratives. On their signature tattooed ceramics, Francesco’s fluid, hand-drawn designs wrap around Chiara’s meticulously crafted forms. Evoking a contemporary “tribal act”, the results of their collaboration feel like timeless objects distinguished by a raw poetic language that blends ancient mystic references with contemporary images. Each collection unveils a coherent visual narrative, where words and drawings merge into a deeply personal and innovative expression.
