Bootsy Holler (b.1969) is best-known for her work as a portraitist, beginning with intimate depictions of herself and friends at the centre of Seattle’s pivotal music scene during the early 1990s – work she’s showing in London during Frieze Week 2024. Without Words, how- ever, sidesteps into conceptualism. It is introspective; a way of making sense of personal thoughts and feelings. “The spark came from an illuminating moment in Savannah, Georgia, when I found myself alone in the humid night air. I walked to the railing and looked out to see my body face down in the pool below. I didn’t know it then, but the feeling of detachment in that moment would follow me through the next few years.” Holler positions nature as a grounding place and a way to get back to her body. There is a surreal sense of being a distant observer, watching a figure lost in forests, marshes, fields, rocks and open water. “What might have started as despair now represents hope,” she says. bootsyholler.com.