Sarah Harvey

Most of us probably aren’t very pleased when we see our reflections in a fun-house mirror, all lumps and knobs and stubby legs. But Sarah Harvey, the English painter, seems to prefer her self-portraits writhing, distorted and obscured. It’s not as unpleasant as it sounds – Harvey conducts her figure studies in the depths of a swimming pool, painting herself dozens of times submerged below the liquid blue-green surface. Based on photographs taken by a third party, the results are simultaneously realistic and blurred, attractive and eerie, an arresting examination of the self and the fluidity of appearance.