Isabella’s art practice is a ritual. Everything from preparing the materials, to the use of colour and scale, to a piece being reworked or left alone, to the use of her body…is part of this ritual. She uses ritual as a way of inducing and processing states of transformation and uncertainty, through material and bodily gestures of disintegration, embodiment, and enduring stillness. In this way, the work is process-oriented and of the body. Her work draws a lot of inspiration from concepts and symbols associated with the occult: death, loss, fear, emptiness, fire, sexual energy, divination, the void, blackholes, trance-like states such as sleep and meditation, mythos, astrological archetypes, play, and the unconscious mind. A lot of these are lived-realities, but the occult “storifies” and philosophises them and turns them into concepts and ritualistic practices. Over the years Isabella has amassed a vast cosmology of diverse occult research and experiences that her practice draws from and adds to. What it all boils down to, though, is the inescapable collective experience of being alive and dying; to be alive and in a state of constant death and rebirth, and to be surrounded by a sense of mystery, the unknown.

Occult wisdom – whether from Western sources (e.g. Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Gnosticism, Rider–Waite Tarot), Eastern sources (e.g. Vedic Astrology, Buddhism), or Frankenstein-like mixtures that aim to unify them all under one umbrella (Theosophy, globalised New Age content dominating social media) – has had a way of storifying and dramatising the mundane and primordial human experience using archetypal practices, lore and art as a means to do so. Using tools for meaning-making and dramatic reenactment – primarily through repetitive and intentional ways (ritual, magic) – to connect with oneself and others, and find some comfort – is an integral part of what it means to be human. As an artist, part of what Isabella’s work aims to do is to draw from, situate herself in, contribute to, critically analyse, and create a ripple in the vast ocean that is this tradition.

For example, as mentioned, the process of creating abstract paintings can be considered a ritualistic and performative act. The performance of layering materials, employing repetitive gestures, and entering meditative states during the process align with esoteric rituals aimed at reframing the mundane and accessing different facets of reality and self. The uncertainty she faces on her canvas becomes a surface to work through things to train for her life, and what goes on in her life becomes training for the studio. The painterly metamorphosis from wet to dry becomes a tangible manifestation of the transformations she goes through in daily life, with the passing of time. So does the rapid mark-making, the stretched time periods waiting for a layer to dry, as well the extra-large surfaces she works on with intense bodily gestures in silence… They are all ways of contraction and expansion, chaos and order, destruction and creation, growth and decay.

The “colour black” is the unifying thread in Isabella’s work. She sees the use of colour in her art as transcending the purely aesthetic, often serving as a conduit for deeper symbolic exploration. The colour black takes on a profound significance, acting as a portal to realms of ritualistic expression. Black, traditionally seen as the absence of colour or the amalgamation of all colours, becomes a potent symbol in this context. At the forefront of black's symbolic repertoire is its representation of the void or infinite potentiality. Isabella’s work leverages the starkness of black to evoke a sense of emptiness pregnant with creative possibilities, inviting viewers to contemplate the boundless potential within the unmanifested. In this way, black becomes a threshold, a canvas awaiting the emergence of form and meaning. Isabella uses multiple different shades, textures, and gestures of blacks, as well as dark browns and dark hues of other colours, to create a sense of subtle tonal variations and movement within the void. Some of her paintings are the result of her daily meditation sessions from which she emerges and tries to directly paint the moving blackness she sees when she closes her eyes in that state of disciplined presence and concentration. Isabella finds blackness – much like the dead of the night – to be fascinating. A refuge. Something very close to “truth.”

Isabella also often starts off her paintings with a bright surface, filled with phenomena as a means of creating contrast, which she then obscures and occults with multiple layers of dark shades and textures over time – like a lunar or solar eclipse bringing about fated changes. She finds that what is obscured usually invites the viewer to be more present with the piece – to really look at what’s beyond the surface, rather than just see. To get close to the threshold of the canvas and really peer in at slightly light details looming behind the layers of blackness. Further, she plays with the spaciousness of black that allows one to feel they have more space to be present, which in itself is a profound and radical experience. Isabella’s works aim to immerse the viewer in a contemplative journey – whether that is for 5 minutes, 1 hour, 3 days, 2 seconds or multiple years – inviting them to explore the mystical and transcendent qualities associated with the colour black, drawing them more deeply into themselves in the process. This is something that she finds to be very transformative in an age of relentless information overload, and constant unnatural blue light beaming from screens and bulbs. In this way, she extends her ritual outside of her studio and to her audience. The way her works are positioned and displayed – whether it is as 3D cocoon-like painting installations or accompanied by a certain type of dim lighting, a sound, a text, a live performance, a direct-participation by the audience, or a moving image – are all part of this ritual that is being offered to viewers and participators.