About

Sophie Ghabris creates expressive figurative paintings marked by psychological tension, distorted forms, and confronting gazes. Drawing from expressionism and subtle elements of surrealism, her work explores the human figure as a space where vulnerability, confrontation, and emotional intensity meet.

Her paintings often depict figures suspended between fragility and defiance. Through asymmetry, simplified forms, and deliberate distortion, Sophie Ghabris moves away from conventional ideals of harmony and beauty, focusing instead on the emotional charge that emerges from imbalance, tension, and human presence.

Personal experience plays a central role in shaping her work. The sudden loss of her father became a profound turning point in her life and artistic journey, reinforcing painting as a space for reflection, confrontation, and emotional truth. Rather than illustrating specific narratives, her paintings often capture psychological states—moments where vulnerability, memory, and presence intersect.

Themes of psychological struggle, illness, loss, survival, addiction, and inner conflict also run through her work. These elements appear not as literal depictions but as emotional undercurrents, expressed through the tension of the figures, the ambiguity of their expressions, and the silent intensity of their gaze.

Having lived between different cultural environments, Sophie Ghabris developed a fluid and multifaceted perception of the world that continues to inform her work. Her paintings often exist in the fragile space between reality and perception, where memory, emotion, and subconscious narratives intersect.

The figures in her paintings frequently confront the viewer directly. These silent encounters create an ambiguous psychological space in which the viewer is invited to engage with the image without clear answers or resolution. Through restrained compositions and expressive distortion, Sophie Ghabris examines the delicate territory between vulnerability and strength, intimacy and distance.

Each painting seeks to evoke emotional recognition rather than fixed meaning, allowing viewers to project their own experiences and interpretations onto the figures that inhabit 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).