Mara Harbon is a painter, born in Los Angeles, of French/Iranian descent. In 2019, she moved to Antwerp to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

She approaches painting from the perspective of a developmental process.

Each work begins as a kind of psychological archaeology: excavating fragments of myths, memories and psychology, and reassembling them into a composition. However, her intention is not to heal these fragments into a 'whole' or to unite them into a single truth. Instead, the paintings become 'palimpsests', in which reused forms compete for visibility, sometimes slipping back beneath the surface and revealing traces of a struggle.

She recognises fragmentation as a more honest expression of identity, grief and desire, without denying the longing for wholeness. This can be seen in the way each work craves resolution while simultaneously avoiding it. It constantly oscillates between concealment and exposure, vulnerability and masks, stories and confessions.

In her work, the cathartic moment lies in the rejection of closure; ultimately recognising that resolution is secondary to the fundamental urge to express.