It is about leaving and grieving, loss and reclamation. It is a quest that is skinless, profound and in parts, viscerally painful, but articulated with grace, sensuality and beauty. In parts, Payne has literally inserted herself into the painting by lying on the bed sheets, which serve as giant canvases for some of her more provocative imagery. But describing this exhibition simply as a ”body” of works, while literally accurate, does not encapsulate the spiritual processes and self-interrogation Payne has undertaken in this ongoing journey.

Continuing from where her previous New Life series left off, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy provides almost a chronological evolution of Payne’s efforts to access spirit through art and her embrace of creativity and creation. There are the Cosmic Starbursts – smaller paintings of inter-galactic explosions variously resembling magnified snowflakes or blood platelets viewed under a microscope. There are also the disconcerting Hanging Paintings. Payne depicts shapely female legs slightly elevated off the ground plane and almost balletic in their attenuated stance. They are mostly painted a lurid pink, suggesting life’s cheapness. Yet simultaneously, these works evoke a sense of ascension, even transcendence. And therein lie the paradoxes inherent in Payne’s ongoing duels and dances with duality, between yin and yang, sacred and profane. And always the twain shall meet.

For example, in her Snake Dancer series, Payne immortalises Glenda Kemp, the legendary stripper of the 1970s’, who raised body-temperatures and the ire of the church through her snake dances with Oupa – her pet python. In these works, however, Glenda’s features morph into those of Payne herself. And in the Glenda series, the snake seems almost to gag – even suffocate the dancer – an eerie echo of Payne’s previous bondage paintings. The serpent is, of course, one of the oldest and most powerful archetypal symbols in history. As both demon and deity, it is associated with duality, in all the major religions.

In this sense Payne’s paintings give resonance to McLachlan’s evocative lyrics in her song, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy:

“Companion to our demons
They will dance and we will play
With chairs, candles and cloth
Making darkness in the day
It will be easy to look in or out
Upstream or down without a thought”

Through its ability to shed its old skin the snake also symbolises rebirth or renewal. And this is the recurring refrain not only throughout Payne’s exhibition but also in the show’s centrepiece – a monumental painting of the Hindu God Shiva and Parvati in a carnal embrace.

In Hinduism, Parvati is more than Lord Shiva's wife. She is his Shakti, his power. And the two entwined deities – symbolising the masculine and feminine components of the self - represent balance. But there exists a third, dark force within this union: Kali – the “other” woman, who Payne also depicts.

In Hindu mythology Parvati was known as the "Dark One" because she was dark skinned, and her husband teased her for such. She went away and had this dark skin removed, and became the "Golden One". According to myth the skin left over became Kali, whose name literally means "Dark."

In Jungian mythology the dark side or shadow of the subconscious is the super-ego that, unless understood, confronted and tamed, exerts control over all the conscious choices we make in life, disrupting the harmony between yin and yang. Yet in the exhibition centrepiece, the coupling Shiva and Parvati are indeed as one. This is the first time in years that Payne has depicted men and women together in a single painting. This suggests a reconciliation of the splintered psyche, or perhaps the beginnings of the next interlinking phase of an endless journey for an artist who paints with both body and soul.

The exhibition launches on Thursday, 5 September at 18:00 at the Barnard Gallery in Newlands, Cape Town. Entry is free. The exhibition will run until Thursday, 17 October.