Again and Again, Until You Believe It is the synthesis of Isabel Santos confronting her own insecurities, ones that often lie behind the surface but emerge as the human tendency towards self-improvement heightens once January rolls around and rings in the new year. The exhibition’s title is taken from a chant she wrote down one day, several years ago, and has subconsciously repeated to herself, to combat things she wanted to change (as, perhaps, something as small and granular as being the type of person who keeps her room clean) or things she needed to prove herself to be (as, perhaps, something existential and life-altering as questioning whether or not she is an artist).

Morning affirmations, the law of attraction: these practices have been key to some of the most popular techniques employed by the self-help cult. Repeat something enough times — “I deserve the happiness that I am open to receiving” — and it becomes true. Or, at least, you begin to believe it to be so.

Santos approached Again and Again with the need for a clean room. Although she sometimes creates work in a controlled environment dedicated to making art, as in a studio, a large majority of the work that she makes is made in her room, amidst her possessions and her daily life. Cleaning her room was tantamount to cleaning her head, as putting away markers of her other pursuits meant she could then make her work.

Upon completing the task in the best way she could, she thought about innately being the kind of person that kept her room (and, by extension, her head) clean. She thought about how this goal required continuous movement, that anything she ever wanted to do or be would require a commitment to processes or actions that weren’t second nature to her at all. This applied to her work as well, and the things she wants to, but thinks she is unable to do.

Again and Again resists against being stagnant and content, a state she believes can be achieved by constantly trying, again and again, until it becomes something. Until these projections and repetitions are embodied, made flesh.

Thematically, Santos’ work is concerned about her own struggles with mental health and self-doubt. This body of work is an extension of this, but with a focus on how to reframe her struggles into something actionable, through constant movement — again and again, until you believe it — which build habits and become behaviours. It addresses the path towards a goal of being an artist and actually believing it. Here, she focussed on memorialising images that echo or remain in motion, in a bid to embody the idea of consistency. The outcome is the process. It is not simply going through the motions of life, but finding little areas where one is constantly learning (which type of stitch produces a more robust connection, for one) and improving, in the hopes of becoming this better, “improved” version of one’s self.

• Carina Santos