This Woman’s Work: Celebrating Women
In honour of Women’s Month 2024, 1B Window Gallery and Genesis Cinema Gallery proudly present “This Woman’s Work: Celebrating Women” a captivating art exhibition that highlights the diverse and profound perspectives of women in the realm of contemporary art. This dual-gallery showcase is a dynamic exploration of the unique approaches, narratives, and visions that female artists bring to the forefront of the art world. Each artwork serves as a testament to the resilience, creativity, and ingenuity of women in the contemporary art scene.
‘This Woman’s Work’ not only aims to elevate the visibility of women in the arts but also fosters a dialogue about the transformative impact of their contributions. Through this exhibition, we invite the audience to engage with the vibrant narratives and creative expressions that shape our cultural landscape, ultimately acknowledging and celebrating the profound influence of women in contemporary art. Join us in honouring the remarkable talents of female artists as we amplify their voices and illuminate their collective impact on the ever-evolving canvas of the art world.
Arzoo Azad
Arzoo Azad, born and brought up in Karachi, Pakistan, is a visual artist. She completed her Bachelor’s of Fine Art from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (batch of 2019), where she did a double major in Painting and Printmaking. Following her Bachelor’s, she completed her master’s degree in Print from the Royal College of Art (RCA), batch of 2023. Arzoo’s artistic practice is deeply personal and rooted in her own lived experiences. Arzoo has showcased her works in numerous group exhibitions locally and internationally including Pakistan, Venice, Rome, India, and London. Shared Experiences is a series that voices real life experiences of women and encourages women to reclaim their own narratives, identity and body.
@arzooazad.art | www.arzooazad.com/
Bims Ayorinde
Bims Ayorinde is a 21-year-old artist based in the UK. Her artwork tends to focus on black experiences throughout the diaspora, activism movements that she feels strongly for, and showcasing the femininity of black women.
Transporting you back to your childhood through nostalgic timeless moments, these universal black experiences showcase the shared narratives throughout the diaspora.
Ella Jackson
@ellaa.rj | ellarosej.wixsite.com/ellajackson
Jessica Da Silva Oleiro
Meet Jess, a Swiss-Portuguese artist living in East London. Her art is all about celebrating diversity, blending cultures and influences to create a colourful and delicate style. She has found her creative home in London where she did a Master’s degree at UAL’s Chelsea College of Arts. Jess finds inspiration in the beauty and emotions of the world and exploring the unique stories of individuals. Passionate about sharing her love for art, she guides young minds in after-school classes and conducts creative painting workshops for adults.
Her colorful art, made with markers and watercolours, tells stories about our bodies, little moments of boredom, and celebrating our uniqueness. Each piece is like a lively diary capturing personal stories and feelings.
@jess_dso | jessdasilva72.wixsite.com/website
Judy Clarkson
“Originally from Harrogate, N. Yorks, I studied Fine Art BA at St Martin’s School of Art. Since graduating, I’ve followed a variety of creative pursuits such as literary writing and film making but have always retained a love of life drawing. The human figure is a constant inspiration for me. After a long break from painting, I’ve made a serious return to art and now spend as much time as possible in my studio. I’ve applied to this call as I always welcome the chance to reach a new audience, and as a women who paints women.
As a figurative artist, I aim to depict people as they are: to convey the living soul within through situations, sometimes bizarre or intimate, sometimes from a place of stillness. I paint in oil on canvas, and work the paint intensely, building up layers of brushwork. Viewed in proximity, the loose marks can seem almost abstract, yet at a distance they resolve into a realistic image. I seek to engender a direct reponse from the viewer as they recognise their own humanity in the painting.”
@judy_clarkson_art | judyclarkson.com
Leah Germann
Leah Germann is an artist currently working primarily in paint. Recent work has explored everyday struggles from both figurative and abstract angles. Aspects of psychology, the use of objects, repetition, and language are recurring themes in her work.
These works are part of my Frustration Series, the figurative side to an ongoing exploration of everyday obstacles, struggles, and accumulation over time.
@leahgermann | leahgermann.com
Nandi Elewa-Gidado
Nandi is an artist based in South London who loves to dabble with different art mediums, ranging from: clay, painting and illustrative works, utilising both digital and analogue techniques. Nandi grabs inspiration from everyday objects, items and subjects and shares this across mainly social media platforms.
The work included is a depiction of friends having a springtime picnic. The work was inspired by Nandi not being “exposed to ‘cute’ aesthetic images of black woman having a fun time… so I decided to make it myself.”
Rebecca Lesley
“I grew up in a few different places including Glasgow but mostly in the areas just past west London. As a child I didn’t have any friends and I was very behind in class with a disruptive family life so art has always been my safe place, because of that I promised myself that I would prioritise art. I have stuck to that promise. I work as a costume textiles artist and dyer for film and TV.
As a self-taught painter, I use oil paint to produce the finer portrait details, often mixing other mediums to create expressive layers that contrast with the text and structures that sit underneath. Many of my paintings are brushed over several times and the original is completely lost, it’s hard not to over think the process and get too carried away. I often produce work as a series, playfully mixing women’s themes with allegory, religious iconography and pop culture references to create hyper-femme pieces that are occasionally tongue-in-cheek. Some of my paintings are expressions of what femme is to me in the 21st century, where we are battling being ‘too girly’ or ‘too bold’ or ‘a slut’ and confused about where to look for spirituality without being critiqued.”
@rebeccajolesley | Rebeccajlesley.org
Robin Clark
Robin Clark is an artist from Doncaster, South Yorks, living and working in London for the last 9 years, and graduated with a BA Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts (UAL) in 2017.
Night Out (acrylic paint and frosted paper collage, 2023) depicts an imagined 1980s club toilet interior, a non-domestic space within female/femme leisure involving making up, refreshing, socialising and community. As is common in the artist’s work, objects indicate the presence of people, despite their absence. The “smoke and mirrors” of feminine gender presentation is also alluded to among the objects, and a certain gloss and glamour characteristic of the era is indicated by the interior’s décor. Frosted paper collage indicates a mirror, but ironically refuses the viewer’s reflection.
@roxyhighroad | www.robinclarkart.co.uk/
Sadie Aston
Sadie Aston was born and raised in Bournemouth and currently resides in Poole, Dorset. She completed her MA in Painting at Arts University Bournemouth in October 2022, following her BA in Fine Art, and is now exhibiting her work in the UK and internationally as part of group exhibitions and online features where her work has been purchased for private collections. Aston has participated in several group shows. She currently works as a Painting Specialist Technician Demonstrator at Arts University Bournemouth in order to be able to facilitate her art practice.
Aston is fascinated by the veil that separates worlds between life and death, past, present, and future. Her work explores the concept of existing as a being within a body and experiencing the world around us. It can be emotionally and psychologically charged, investigating our relationship with ourselves and others, and how our bodies interact with one another or simply exist in the moment. The artwork displays an interest in Spiritualism, with a vibrant, dreamlike colour palette that evokes a sense of entering an unreal or fantastical realm. The radiant and otherworldly colours used in the artwork make the ghostly figures appear as if they are dissolving into the abyss, leaving only an impression behind, capturing the ephemeral nature of life, emphasising the impermanence of existence.
@sadieaston_ | www.sadieastonartist.co.uk
Sandy Matta
Sandy is a Syrian/Lebanese creative based in East London. Her day job is in filmmaking, but after putting away a career in graphic design, she turned to digital collage art to keep my creativity flowing. When it comes to her style, less is more – “I find the use of archival imagery and negative space a crucial element in expressing a narrative in each collage. I also have interests in absurdist art, and find that it allows me to think laterally on what story is being told when compiling pieces of found imagery together. A majority of my collages were created within the month of February for the annual collage challenge “Februllage”.”
This collection reflects the scale of the feminine experience and what it truly entails. From empowerment to objectification, each collage reflects the nuances of what her and many other women have experienced.
@artdoesntmatta | www.sandymatta.com/
Sandy Ching-Yu Chui
Born and raised in Taiwan, Sandy is an artist based in Eastcheap Studios, Letchworth Garden City. She explores memories, self-discovery, and everyday life. With a degree in philosophy, she returned to obtain a master’s in digital media design from Birkbeck, University of London in 2021. Since graduating, she pivoted to the field of art and has been exhibiting locally in and around Hertfordshire. Growing up, she was influenced by children’s book illustrations, cartoons, manga, literature, and pop art. Draws inspirations from personal experiences, and from observing the world around her, she recreates a dream-like reality according to her imagination. Her practice is intuitive and intro-perspective, and she’s interested in the insights and emotions, which often emerge from the process of making her works.
Inspired by the strong women in my family, these paintings are an expression of women’s experiences, strengths and expections of life.
@sandychiustudio | sandychiu.com
Yvadney Davis
Yvadney is a figurative artist from South London celebrating my Caribbean heritage through themes of folklore, history and the everyday. Self taught, her practise amplifies the rich culture of the Windrush Generation and its descendants through works centred on surface using mediums including textured paint, vintage wallpaper and chrome ink. Her work has been exhibited at the Black Cultural Archives, 198 Gallery, Mall Galleries and M&C Saatchi amongst others ; shortlisted for John Moores Painting Prize and RA Summer Exhibition; and she was a semi-finalist in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, but her most proud moment is having the Year 6’s at Hitherfield Primary School do an art project on her work.
Yvadney has included two pieces exploring the sensuality and sensitivity of Caribbean women.
@yvadneydavisart | yvadney.art