Embracing and Repelling: Naila Hazell
Embracing and Repelling: Naila Hazell
Born in 1981 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and now based in West London, Naila Hazell brings an extraordinary depth of psychological and emotional inquiry to contemporary figurative painting. Educated at the Azerbaijani Fine Arts Academy under the guidance of Boyukagha Mirzezade, one of the great exponents of Soviet social realism, Hazell’s practice is rooted in rigorous formal training yet distinctly her own in its emotive intensity and conceptual scope.
At the core of this exhibition lies her seminal series Embracing and Repelling, which interrogates the paradoxical dynamics of intimacy. Hazell renders with remarkable clarity the simultaneous forces of attraction and rejection, tenderness and hostility, desire and estrangement—dualities that underpin the human condition. Through sweeping brushwork and a dramatic exaggeration of expression, her paintings hold moments of psychological intensity in suspension, laying bare the vulnerability and volatility of interpersonal relationships.
Drawing upon a personal history marked by profound loss and difficult relational dynamics, Hazell transforms private experience into a universal narrative. Her figures, while specific, speak to broader truths: that love often harbours frustration, that joy can be shadowed by fear, and that passion is inseparable from conflict. In this oscillation between extremes, Hazell reveals the fragile equilibrium of emotional life.
Her canvases are not simply depictions of individuals but rather portraits of the psyche itself. Each work becomes a site of confrontation—between sitter and viewer, between emotion and its representation—where the complexities of mental health, suffering, and resilience are given visible form. By externalising what is often unspoken, Hazell situates her practice within a lineage of artists for whom painting is both testimony and catharsis.
Embracing and Repelling presents a compelling exploration of human vulnerability and strength, affirming Hazell’s position as an artist of acute sensitivity and profound psychological insight.
