Whorlasmz, the artistic name of Orla O’Boyle (born 1997), is a Dublin based Black and lesbian multimedia artist and illustrator whose practice combines drawing, painting and sculpture. Through self portraiture, she explores her relationship with Blackness and Queerness, addressing identity and sexuality through recurring figures that reflect different versions of herself.
Her work develops from personal feelings and different stages of life. Hair, in particular, becomes a visual marker of time and personal change, allowing the artist to trace her own journey through her images. Her creative process begins with photography or imagination, followed by journaling, drawing and working in notebooks. The resulting figures are expressions of identities and versions of herself that she wants to bring into existence and make visible.
Following three years living in Berlin, Whorlasmz returns to these themes in They are, I am, feeding you myself, a solo exhibition curated by Ishmael Claxton at Gallery X. Taking its title from the first work in the exhibition, the show brings together a new collection of paintings and drawings rooted in self portraiture, Blackness and Queerness. The central figure, featuring multiple heads and faces joined to a single body, brings together the different experiences, identities and histories that shape an individual.
The exhibition explores the importance of visibility and representation, particularly for Black and queer communities. For Whorlasmz, creating these figures is also an act of self recognition and affirmation. Her work challenges the pressure to conform, making space for bodies and identities that can be playful, creepy, sexual or misshapen. As she states in her artist statement, Black artists and queer artists should be visible, and pride in our bodies and existence matters.
Whorlasmz creates a metaphorical world of paintings and ceramic sculptures through which she expresses her innermost consciousness with disarming honesty. Her figures are characterised by distinctive features that have become a recognisable artistic signature. The absence of eyes reflects society’s tendency to blind us with ignorance, while the grotesquely enlarged mouths represent how we are turned into consumers, their exaggerated shape forming a mocking grin. These figures are at once playful and intriguing, engaging the viewer while prompting questions about identity and who we are.
They are, I am, feeding you myself opens at Gallery X on 5 November 2026, from 6 pm to 9 pm, and runs until 21 November. Curated by Ishmael Claxton.
