Welcome to Hamilton Sulit’s Carnival of Souls, which weaves a dark thread through life. It stitches together a series of fragmented scenes— hesitant eyes and lingering gestures—all of which examine the weight of the human condition in all its complexity. It essentially places our practices, shifting perspectives, and the fragile architecture of our faith under a microscope.

Borrowing its name from the haunting atmosphere of mid-century cinema, the exhibition explores ideas about death, decay, and salvation, alongside the quiet violence of emotional trauma, isolation, and solitude. Featuring an excess of flesh-laden canvases, it highlights the body as a vulnerable vessel of our souls and the soul as a reflection and manifestation of everything we accumulate as human beings.

What we end up with is a slow-moving walkthrough of our inner landscape that trembles through time in the absence of hope. Drawn from what is remembered and what is observed, a deeply personal memory, and lived experience. This collection explores the duality of human existence—the tension between life’s certainties and profound uncertainties.

The process behind Carnival of Souls also takes off from Sulit’s previous work titled Strange Familiarity, which are visual representations of our encounters with people, thoughts, and times that are both uncannily strange and familiar.

The result is a thought-provoking new collection that deals with the fragile and the distantly familiar, and a feast for the senses of anyone brave enough to partake in the experience.

Hamilton Sulit and Nikki Ignacio