About
Sophie Ghabris creates expressive figurative paintings marked by psychological tension, distorted forms, and confronting gazes. Through asymmetry, colour, texture, and deliberate distortion, her work moves away from conventional ideals of harmony and beauty while remaining deeply concerned with beauty itself.
Ghabris is drawn to what is awkward, imperfect, strange, or easily overlooked. Rather than correcting these qualities into conventional beauty, she seeks to reveal the beauty already present within them. Her figures may be disproportionate, uneasy, vulnerable, or difficult to read, yet they demand to be seen.
At the heart of her work is an interest in what—and whom—we choose to look at, and what we pass by. Her paintings invite the viewer to remain with what might initially seem uncomfortable or unfamiliar, allowing another kind of beauty and human presence to emerge.
Personal experience also shapes her work. The sudden loss of her father became a profound turning point in her life and artistic practice, deepening her relationship with painting as a means of confronting and expressing what can be difficult to articulate. Memory, loss, illness, survival, and inner conflict appear not as literal narratives but as emotional undercurrents, carried through the tension of the figures, the ambiguity of their expressions, and the intensity of their gaze.
Having lived between different cultural environments, Ghabris developed a fluid and multifaceted perception of the world that continues to inform her work. Her paintings occupy a space between observation, memory, and imagination, leaving room for viewers to bring their own experiences and interpretations to the figures on the canvas.
Sophie Ghabris has presented her work in several exhibitions, including the solo exhibitions A Painting a Day Keeps Freud Away (Galleri 86, Stockholm, 2024) and Fairy’s Mishmash (Galleri Korn, Stockholm, 2025), as well as group exhibitions and public art events in Stockholm, including Nytorgsfesten Street Art (EgenArt, Nytorget, Stockholm, 2025) and Kvinna, a group exhibition for International Women’s Day (5–8 March 2026).