CMJZ Arts kick off 2026 with FORM – Primal Rhythm, an all-women exhibition curated by co-founder Christina Zahra at Cramer St Gallery in Marylebone, London.
Marking the second movement in the ongoing FORM curation, the exhibition brings together a powerful roster of female artists, including Lauren Baker, Nettie Wakefield, Gaby Jonna, Tori Pounds, Grace Gershinson, Paola Estrella and Lydia Smith. Together, their works explore the female form, intuition and humanity’s primal connection to nature at a time when digital saturation and individualism increasingly shape everyday life.
First presented in 2024 at Principal Tower in collaboration with Concord London, FORM was conceived as a response to the contemporary moment, one that re-centred softness not simply as a visual language, but as a quiet strength. Where the first iteration examined curvature, allure and gentle femininity, Primal Rhythm moves deeper, listening for something older and less visible. It is an exhibition attuned to instinct, origin and the unseen energetic exchanges that bind people to one another and to the earth itself.
“For Primal Rhythm, we listen more closely to origin: to intuition, to roots, to the unseen exchanges of energy that bind us to one another and to the earth,”
Christina Zahra explains.
“Where FORM explored curvature and allure, this movement is about returning to what came before language or systems – the body, rhythm, and our innate intelligence.”
This emphasis on intuition feels particularly urgent. Zahra frames the exhibition as a counterpoint to a society that is increasingly connected technologically while becoming disconnected on a human level.
“We are so consumed with technology, self-care and escapism that we are slowly forgetting the importance of being vulnerable, living in communities, relying on each other, and holding space when we are imperfect, FORM is to reignite that truth in us, that depth we have and need to nourish, and the understanding that we need each other to achieve that.”
The artists featured in FORM – Primal Rhythm share a sensitivity to natural cycles, organic growth and the intelligence held within the body. Their practices are guided by what might be described as an inner knowing, a trust in instinct rather than instruction. Across sculpture, painting and mixed media, the works evoke knowledge passed down through nature and history: sound vibrating through air, nourishment travelling from root to stem, or the delicate yet determined emergence of mushrooms pushing through soil.
Visually, the exhibition is grounded and immersive. Sculpture and artworks fill the space with textures that feel soft and inviting, yet unmistakably earthen. Forms appear grown rather than constructed, shaped by repetition, rhythm and exchange rather than rigid design. Colour palettes lean toward twilight and soil, muted browns, deep purples, mossy greens and dusky neutrals, suggesting breath, pulse and slow, cyclical time. There is a sense of both tenderness and resilience, a quiet insistence that softness can also hold strength.
Rather than presenting nature as something to be observed from a distance, Primal Rhythm positions it as something we are fundamentally part of. The female form, often central to the works, is not idealised or decorative but instinctive and embodied, a site of memory, intuition and connection. In this way, the exhibition subtly challenges long-standing hierarchies that separate mind from body, culture from nature, or progress from vulnerability.
As Zahra notes, this direction feels increasingly visible within contemporary art. A growing number of artists and curators are turning away from spectacle and speed, instead creating spaces that invite slowness, reflection and emotional presence. FORM – Primal Rhythm aligns with this shift, offering an environment where viewers are encouraged to soften, feel and reconnect, not only with the artworks, but with themselves and each other.
Ultimately, FORM – Primal Rhythm is less about nostalgia and more about remembrance: a remembering of shared rhythms, communal reliance and the quiet power of vulnerability. In an era defined by acceleration and abstraction, CMJZ Arts’ latest exhibition offers a grounded alternative, one rooted in instinct, connection and the enduring intelligence of the natural world.
CMJZ Arts presents FORM – Primal Rhythm – 1st February 2026, Cramer St Gallery
