About

Samantha Wilson (b. 1990) creates figurative drawings and paintings inspired by a self-curated photography archive encompassing over 60 categories. Driven by a keen sense of ethical inquiry. Wilson's work invites viewers to reflect on their relationship with imagery, identity, and empathy in the contemporary world through a unique reimagining of photographic images.

She employs visual tensions, leveraging ambiguity and the unresolved through the use of liquid watercolour, powder pigments, charcoal, and oil paint. Bodies, faces, and identities are both revealed and concealed, deliberately straddling abstraction and narrativity. Her paintings raise ethical questions of representation, prompting viewers to consider the responsibilities of both the artist and the observer in responding to contemporary crises. Through this, Wilson emphasises the need for compassionate connections that transcend race, age, gender, and political status.

Wilson received a BA and MFA in fine art from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, Scotland (2010-15), and an MRes in Art and Humanities from The Royal College of Art (2023). She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a John Kinross Scholarship to Florence, an RSA New Contemporaries Award, the Eaton Grant, a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) grant, was selected artist for Scottish New Contemporaries at the Royal Scottish Academy and New Scottish Artists, The Flemming Collection Gallery (2015). Recent group exhibitions include Earthwise at Beaconsfield Contemporary, and Inner Workings, at the Cooke Latham Gallery, London (2023). She lives and works in the UK.

EDUCATION

The Royal College of Art, London, UK

MRes Art & Humanities | Sep 2022 - Sep 2023

Painting as an Empathetic Practice - view Research profile here

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, UK

Masters of Fine Art with Distinction | Sep 2014 - Nov 2015

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, UK

Bachelors of Fine Art with First Class Honours | Sep 2010 - Jun 2014

OCAD University, Toronto, CA

Transatlantic Exchange in Drawing and Painting | Aug 2012 - Dec 2012

Dundee College

HNC in Contemporary Art Practices | Sep 2008-June 2010