Emily Ponsonby’s exploration of womanhood is - like her paintings - a quiet and intimate one. Intrigued by the very idea of shared experiences and unspoken bonds, Ponsonby investigates the foundations of friendship and connection. Through her work, the artist captures the warmth and depth of everyday conversations, her work being less about grand, dramatic moments and more about subtle, ordinary encounters. As a woman in her thirties, Ponsonby notices, these dialogues often develop around ideas of fertility and motherhood, whether it’s navigating egg-freezing, balancing careers with parenting, or reflecting on the resilience of the female body.

Through her distinctive use of perspective and composition, Ponsonby pushes the emotional charge of her pieces a step further, often adapting her pictorial surface to the point of view of the bystander. Through such an expedient, the viewer is transformed into sitter and participant, taking agency over the narrative of Ponsonby’s works and making it their own. “I want the viewer to feel as if they were sitting within the painting, soothed by the strength that being vulnerable and sharing experiences brings.” A half-drunk glass, an empty chair, foreshortened legs - these details invite us to step into the scene; to see the extraordinary in the everyday, capturing the overlooked details of banal objects that time and familiarity can often numb.