In ‘Piercing the Veil,’ artist Marina Kappos delves into the solemn yet striking beauty of loss at Paris’s Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Her solo exhibition, now on display until June 27 in New York City, features aura-like acrylic paintings that evoke a gauzy, almost psychedelic effect. These works, Kappos says, are gateways to understanding our own beliefs and the unknown.

The specter of grief is personified through elegant facial profiles and hands, reminiscent of the grieving women on the cemetery’s gravestones. ‘These paintings depict that threshold,’ she explains, ‘moving from one realm to another.’

‘Piercing the Veil’ explores the duality of presence and absence, the terrestrial and the spiritual, in a way that feels both somber and hopeful.

Kappos’s vision is not just an artistic exploration but a reflection on the human condition, suggesting that even in death, life persists in mysterious and beautiful ways.