Bootsy Holler (b.1969) is best-known for her work as a portraitist, beginning with intimate depictions of herself and friends at the centre of Seattle鈥檚 pivotal music scene during the early 1990s 鈥 work she’s showing in London during Frieze Week 2024. Without Words, how- ever, sidesteps into conceptualism. It is introspective; a way of making sense of personal thoughts and feelings. 鈥淭he spark came from an illuminating moment in Savannah, Georgia, when I found myself alone in the humid night air. I walked to the railing and looked out to see my body face down in the pool below. I didn鈥檛 know it then, but the feeling of detachment in that moment would follow me through the next few years.鈥 Holler positions nature as a grounding place and a way to get back to her body. There is a surreal sense of being a distant observer, watching a figure lost in forests, marshes, fields, rocks and open water. 鈥淲hat might have started as despair now represents hope,鈥 she says. .
