Two artists and two contrasting styles, but one cohesive exhibit. Complementary, the joint exhibition by siblings Shanna Hollis and Nahshon Hollis, is on view at the Masterworks gallery until October 3.

“She’s more like the Sun, and I’m more like the Moon,” said Nahshon when I asked him what makes them complementary artists. Shanna explained: “I’m loud, outgoing, and he’s a quiet introvert.”

Their work, though, overlaps in theme and content, if not personality. “I’d say we’re both looking at the environment, community, mental health, and resilience,” Shanna said.

For Nahshon, these themes drive his oil paintings, which range in style from photorealism to a graphic-inspired approach of silhouetted imagery. In turn, Shanna works in bold primary colours derived from Bermuda’s flags, creating digital prints, sculptures and posters.

The exhibition’s strength lies in conceptual similarities, not the artists’ contrasting styles or approaches. Curator Jasmine Lee's deft installation gives each artist a wall. On the left is Nahshon’s, and on the right, Shanna’s. Where the two walls meet, their visual languages begin to converge.

On that far wall, Nahshon’s earliest work hangs, a 2008 double portrait depicting him and his sister. In it, the two, as adolescents, stand back-to-back, looking in opposite directions but wholly connected. The only drawing on view, this work encapsulates the exhibit more directly than any other.

This is the second time the drawing has been shown at Masterworks. It first appeared here when Nahshon was only 13 years old at his first solo exhibition. The following year, he was featured on the Oprah Winfrey website as one of “The World’s Most Talented Kids”.

Five years later, in 2013, he was awarded the Bermuda Outstanding Teen Award for the Visual Arts. This was merely the beginning of Nahshon’s much heralded career in the arts. In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Charman Prize from Masterworks.

Shanna, the younger of the two, followed in her brother’s footsteps at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and has developed an equally prolific and acclaimed practice.

Since 2018, she has been featured by Footwear News Magazine; she designed branding and NFTs for the recording artist Ashanti, and she has appeared at Masterworks in the 441 Exhibition. She also co-created the Flora Duffy mural on the General Post Office in Hamilton. Since 2023, she has served on the Bermuda Arts Council, where she acts as chair.

This list of accomplishments is impressive, to be sure, but the artistic sophistication of the artists is demonstrated on the gallery walls. This is readily apparent in how Shanna’s Happy Bermudiana series interacts visually and conceptually with Nahshon’s Moonlit Refuge.

Although distinct in appearance, both are anchored in the resiliency of the Bermudian spirit. Shanna’s Happy Bermudiana appears here in 2D and 3D examples. Each features a smiling purple Bermudiana flower emerging from an onion bulb, its leaves gesturing like waving arms.

“Bermudians are known to be quite friendly people,” she said. “The smile is such an important part of us.”

The Bermudiana’s vibrant personality recalls the work of Takashi Murakami, but just as Murakami’s cheeky Mr DOB and Superflat style appear on the surface as commercial polish and superficial cheer, Shanna’s flower is similarly complicated and ambiguous.

In her series, Shanna invokes the history of Sally Bassett, an enslaved woman convicted of poisoning three members of a household and burnt at the stake in 1730.

Bassett always maintained her innocence, and legend states the purple Bermudiana flower first appeared from her ashes. Shanna honours the resilience of the Bermudian spirit with this flower, the onion bulb symbolising the ashes. “I wanted the smile to be an embodiment of that resilience.”

Nahshon’s work echoes this resilience. Whereas Shanna captures the island spirit, blooming from adversity, Nahshon highlights the land and those who thrive within it.

Three “mid-wall” works shift from his photorealistic oils to a graphic patterning with interwoven, stylised natural forms. Reminiscent of woodcut prints by Albrecht Dürer or medieval manuscripts, these paintings anchor the Bermudian landscape in a sense of timelessness.

In the largest of the three, Moonlit Refuge, dense patterning extends from edge to edge, mimicking the lushness and layering of the island’s flora. The silhouetted patterns culminate in the glowing centre of the composition where a moongate frames the rising moon.

As with the Catholic books of hours or illustrations of the zodiac, the moon signals the cycles of nature and the renewal of the landscape. On the left, Nahshon includes a figure working the soil. Nahshon’s interest in gardening and ecology gives the image a personal dimension while addressing ideas of the earth, the island, and one’s place within it.

The overlapping of concepts and inspiration manifests visually as the works near the far wall. Nahshon’s linear but lush patterning recalls his sister’s imagery from the Happy Bermudiana series. In turn, Shanna’s Happy Bermudiana images culminate in digital poster-sized prints complicated by pictorial devices and layered symbolism.

In addition, both artists’ commitment to Bermudian culture extends beyond their work. A portion of proceeds from sales goes to a Gombey troupe and the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation.

The siblings’ mother demonstrates pride in her accomplished children with the inclusion of her own artistic statement, which hangs near the entrance, nestled next to two of Nahshon’s portraits depicting both his mom and sister. Shawn Hollis’s Proud as a Peacock is a touching reminder of the artists’ shared creative environment and their potential for thoughtful expression.