miłość
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UPCOMING | Enemies to Lovers but Me to Myself by Sophie Vallance Cantor
Miłość is excited to present Sophie Vallance Cantor’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, ‘Enemies to Lovers, but Me to Myself’ opening on the 5th of February. In the show, Sophie’s oil paintings take on a new form of room dividers, illustrating experiences of autism and burnout – of recovery and grounding, of hiding and not wanting to be seen, of lashing out in pain, of boundaries and safety.
In their small London home studio, the paintings Sophie and her partner and fellow painter Douglas Cantor make often feel stacked on top of each other – the room dividers translate that feeling, becoming a sort of spatial collages. They conceal and protect, they form a boundary which echoes the artist’s experience of autism, which can often feel like looking in from the outside. Sophie’s paintings offer a refuge to exist in, and now a literal hiding place.
Sophie’s work has seen a change of pace in the recent years; from riding off into the sunsets, being on the lam and searching for another place of winning, she turns to more static compositions, to tender pensive portraits surrounded by softness, from nighttime to daytime depictions. The practice becomes one of solace rather than escapism. The tigers and leopards become portrayals of paralysing meltdowns, of snapping in anger. The painting of fur and leopard spots, as well as lace – inspired by doilies from their home and lace pieces by Dagobert Peche – mirrors the laborious process of healing and grieving.
In ‘Sick Woman Theory’, Johanna Hedva talks about the binary between the private and the public and how it positions within what we consider political. They say, ‘When you have a chronic illness, life is reduced to a relentless rationing of energy. … How do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can’t get out of bed?’. ‘Enemies to Lovers, but Me to Myself’ is an act of protest, an act of self-care and care for another, a diary of labour put into healing, of its hardships and wins.
Request the exhibition catalogue or press pack.
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT | Sophie Vallance Cantor
Sophie Vallance Cantor is a Scottish artist based in London. She has exhibited internationally in group and solo shows including at Mrs Gallery (New York), T293 (Rome), Enari Gallery (Amsterdam), La Bibi + Reus (Spain), NBB (Berlin), and Sotheby’s (New York) among others.
I make paintings as a direct antidote to my everyday life as someone with autism. They open up a refuge to exist in, where the line between reality and imagination is blurred and there is breathing space to be authentic. Domestic cats transform into tigers and leopards, and close relationships become characters navigating themes and narratives like immigration and isolation. It’s not an idealistic place without problems, but the colours are brighter, the tears saltier and the embraces tighter.
Dynamic and confident drawings serve as the structure to underpin each painting, and create a space to engage with play through the painting process. Texture sits under smoothly blended surfaces, creamy brushstrokes meet buffed rosy cheeks, and traditional rules are not followed. Amidst the narrative of the paintings, a sense of stillness prevails. Each small moment is immortalised and transfigured through the trace of the painting process.
There is a yearning to be enveloped by the setting of the paintings, to finally belong somewhere. With each painting reading like a still from a film it is up to the viewer to create their own narrative from the respective moments captured. They are however kept at arm’s length, treated like outsiders – voyeurs – looking in on a private moment, a personal nod to my experiences of isolation navigating the world with autism.
Ultimately, the act of making paintings serves a purpose for me. I am looking for myself in my work and answers to likely unanswerable questions about what it is to be alive, belonging, fear, loneliness and love.
Enquire about available works.
BOOKSHOP SPOTLIGHT
A Rosa is a Rose launch at the ICA | 10 Feb, 7pm
DOUGLAS CANTOR
A Rosa is a Rose is a selection of fifty poems from the last ten years released in October 2025, alongside the opening of his solo painting exhibition PALOMAS (pretty things) at miłość in London.
It is an account of a poet and painter from elsewhere. He writes letters to himself, stories of love and grief, that document the longings and dreams of a place full of flowers. He is the horses and the pigeons, the barriers, desires and leftovers.
The poems often intertwine English and Spanish in a voice genuine to their subject – simultaneously full of hope and disenchantment, as he tries to make it past the bouncer of the western ideal. The book is illustrated with the author’s paintings, printed in black and white, commemorating the poems, like souvenirs or stamps of the times and sentiments.
The evening will be filled with reading, thoughtful conversation, and an open Q&A with Douglas Cantor.
Book tickets through the ICA website here.
AVAILABLE NOW
A Rosa is a Rose
Douglas Cantor
£12.99