‘Soliloquies’ is an exhibition of recent painting and prints by Alison Hainey; the result of a lifetime’s ‘obsessive search’ to create a body of work that examines our inner self, the conscious mind and our abilities to communicate complex emotions. Alison focuses on the human figure. “The search is not for realism or anatomical accuracy, but an exploration of emotions, revealed to us by the subconscious and sometimes unintentional signals we use to communicate." Solitary heads and groups of figures are a recurring theme, where the nature of the contemplative thought or ‘soliloquy’ is open to interpretation. How we communicate and translate complex emotions and signals: the brave face; the suppressed truth; a feigned compliment, is a continual fascination. In these often difficult exchanges, her figures suggest that although gregarious, we are ultimately alone. The figures are always located in abstract worlds, stripping these elusive connections of any excessive narrative, and focusing on the emotion. In this recent work, the figures themselves have begun to unravel and dissolve, their vulnerabilities exposed even further to our own personal interpretation.