Vanessa Raw’s work boldly reclaims female identity and sexuality, subverting the male gaze with vivid colour and expressive gesture. Drawing from male-dominated pornographic imagery, she reinterprets and fuses it with her own photographs and imagined scenes, turning exploitative narratives into ones of empowerment. As a woman painting women, Raw asserts agency and reshapes the visual language around femininity.

Her figures—sensual, tender, and serene—often inhabit lush, dreamlike landscapes. These settings are not imagined but felt; they are places Raw physically moves through on her runs. A former GB triathlete, the artist’s relationship with her body is central to her practice. Her sweeping brushstrokes echo the rhythm of movement, and the natural elements—flowing flora, dappled light—evoke a state of meditative presence. For Raw, both painting and running are forms of moving meditation, spaces where healing and transformation take place.

Raw holds a BFA from Loughborough University (2004) and recently completed the Turps Painting Programme. Her work has been exhibited across London, Berlin, and Margate.

Vanessa Raw

British

Main

Artist

Printer

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All the Little Words (2025)