Anya Paintsil works at the intersection of textile and sculpture, engaging in practices like rug-hooking, embroidery and tapestry-making; some of which she learned from family members. She frequently incorporates weaves, braids and other hair pieces as materials in her work. Painstil explores topics such as the female gaze, personal relationships and collective prejudices; topics that have been informed by her experiences growing up in North Wales in a mixed-race family. Paintsil studied at the Manchester School of Art, was awarded the Wakelin prize in 2021 and had solo exhibitions at the Glynn Vivian Museum, Swansea (2021) and We are all made of you, Ed Cross, London (2022). Her work is in the collections of The Whitworth (Manchester, UK), Glynn Vivian (Swansea, UK), Tullie House (Carlilse,UK), The Women’s Art Collection (Cambridge University, UK), The Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, NL) and Amoako Boa
Born 1993 in Wrexham, North Wales, Anya Paintsil is a Welsh and Ghanaian artist working primarily with textiles. From rug hooking to embroidery, her assemblages evoke tactile tapestry on the one hand, and constitute semi-sculptural interventions on the other. Playful and profound, flippant and forceful, her practice engages the language of fibres — of all kinds — with interrogations of materiality and political personhood.
Anya Paintsil made her London debut at Somerset House’s annual contemporary African art fair, 1-54, 2020. Recent institutional acquisitions include the National Museum of Wales; Arts Council Collective, London; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea; The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Tullie House Museum, Carlisle; the Women’s Art Collection, Cambridge; Arts Council Collection, London, and The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Private collections include Amoako Boafo and Mark Quinn. Anya was awarded the prestigious Wakelin Prize 2020 (exhibited at the Glynn Vivian in 2021), and featured in Crafts Council Gallery’s exhibition ‘Maker’s Eye’, London and Salon 94 in New York, both 2021; in 2022, Anya presented her first London solo show, We Are All Made of You with Ed Cross, and in 2023, she presented a solo exhibition Proof of Their Victories with Hannah Traore Gallery (New York).
Anya Paintsil works at the intersection of textile and sculpture, engaging in practices like rug-hooking, embroidery and tapestry-making; some of which she learned from family members. She frequently incorporates weaves, braids and other hair pieces as materials in her work. Painstil explores topics such as the female gaze, personal relationships and collective prejudices; topics that have been informed by her experiences growing up in North Wales in a mixed-race family. Paintsil studied at the Manchester School of Art, was awarded the Wakelin prize in 2021 and had solo exhibitions at the Glynn Vivian Museum, Swansea (2021) and We are all made of you, Ed Cross, London (2022). Her work is in the collections of The Whitworth (Manchester, UK), Glynn Vivian (Swansea, UK), Tullie House (Carlilse,UK), The Women’s Art Collection (Cambridge University, UK), The Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, NL) and Amoako Boa
Born 1993 in Wrexham, North Wales, Anya Paintsil is a Welsh and Ghanaian artist working primarily with textiles. From rug hooking to embroidery, her assemblages evoke tactile tapestry on the one hand, and constitute semi-sculptural interventions on the other. Playful and profound, flippant and forceful, her practice engages the language of fibres — of all kinds — with interrogations of materiality and political personhood.
Anya Paintsil made her London debut at Somerset House’s annual contemporary African art fair, 1-54, 2020. Recent institutional acquisitions include the National Museum of Wales; Arts Council Collective, London; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea; The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Tullie House Museum, Carlisle; the Women’s Art Collection, Cambridge; Arts Council Collection, London, and The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Private collections include Amoako Boafo and Mark Quinn. Anya was awarded the prestigious Wakelin Prize 2020 (exhibited at the Glynn Vivian in 2021), and featured in Crafts Council Gallery’s exhibition ‘Maker’s Eye’, London and Salon 94 in New York, both 2021; in 2022, Anya presented her first London solo show, We Are All Made of You with Ed Cross, and in 2023, she presented a solo exhibition Proof of Their Victories with Hannah Traore Gallery (New York).
