Neltje Green: Light Left On

Light Left On is a solo exhibition by Montreal-based artist Neltje Green, the first recipient of the United Contemporary Award at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair.

Green’s exhibition brings together a series of paintings that treat spaces as a form of portraiture. Rooms, thresholds, streets, and interiors quietly absorb the traces of lived experience - a chair pulled slightly away from the table, a light left on, a window reflecting what once passed through it. These details stand in for presence, allowing absence to speak.

In these paintings, human figures are intentionally omitted, and yet they are shaped by human life. The spaces hold residue. Gestures, routines, and subtle interruptions suggest who once moved through them. These portraits are not of a face or body, but of a relationship, a presence recalled through atmosphere, structure, and light.

Neltje Green holds a Bachelor of Design from Concordia University, where her work examined how built environments shape perception, atmosphere, and personal histories. She has exhibited at institutions including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, and her work has been featured in Canadian and international publications.