"This is She": A Senior Art Exhibition by Bahia Senay '26 (CCS Art)

Hi friends, 

I’m excited to invite you to my first solo show, This is She, in the College of Creative Studies Gallery. The show will be open from May 30th to June 3rd, with a reception from 5-7 pm on June 3rd. I’d love for you to join me in celebrating with wine and refreshments!

This is She is a series of paintings and prints exploring self-perception, voyeurism, and the vulnerability of being seen. Recurring versions of the artist appear throughout the exhibition, allowing the work to serve as an introduction. The exhibition reflects on how women are perceived in contemporary culture, questioning the assumption that visibility is an invitation to critique. Through bold figurative storytelling, This is She uses painting and printmaking to navigate memory, identity, and the complicated experience of looking at oneself while being looked at by others.

Bahia Senay '26 (CCS Art) is a Santa Barbara based painter. Her work explores the relationship between identity and perception, using self-portraiture to tell stories. She creates scenes that feel both intimate and theatrical, influenced by film, children’s books, and comic illustration. Senay’s work has been exhibited in galleries across Oakland and Santa Barbara, including Joyce Gordon Gallery and the Glass Box Gallery. She is graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Art with an emphasis in Painting. She continues to develop projects that merge self-portraiture and narrative, drawing inspiration from daily life and personal reflection. Her work invites viewers to consider the nuances of the human experience.