New Art Projects is delighted to present a group exhibition made up of works from a private collection, alongside inclusions from a range of artists exploring the female gaze, female portraiture and the body. From the symbolic, magical, historic, allegorical and sexy to the representational and political, this show celebrates both difference and togetherness.
The wide range of artists present work in oils, acrylic, on paper, in enamel, and hand painting photography. Their works are populated by differing representations of many women, from self-portraits, paintings of lovers, paintings of couples, mythical figures and goddesses to a vampiress. In this way, the relationships the artists have to themselves and to others are revealed and explored.
Xanthe Burdett, Maureen Dougherty, Julie Goldsmith, Nettle Grellier,
Marcelle Hanselaar, Leoni Ifill, Sadie Lee, Hattie Malcomson, Efrat Merin,
Ines Michelotto, Malca Mizrahi, Kadie Salmon, Janet Sainsbury
Private view: Thursday, 17th July – 6-9pm
The exhibition will run until 16th August.
→ Press Release
→ List of works
Xanthe Burdett, Blue Hour (2024)
Xanthe Burdett (b. 1995) is a London-based painter whose practice also includes drawing and installation. She earned her MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in 2024 and holds a BA in Education, English, and Drama from Cambridge University. Her work investigates the body as part of nature, blending personal mythology and site-specific narratives through layered compositions that challenge the boundaries between human and non-human forms. Her paintings engage with historical art, natural phenomena, and embodied memory.
Maureen Daugherty, The Dress with a Buckle (2024)
Maureen Elizabeth Dougherty (b.1958) is a New York-based painter and filmmaker who studied at Carnegie Mellon University and the New York Studio School. Her work explores identity, desire, and representation through bold, figurative oil paintings, recently shown at Cheim & Read, Blum Gallery, New Art Projects and international art fairs. She also runs Mojo Films, her independent film production company.
Julie Goldsmith, Little Vampiress (2024) and Untitled (Pink Painting) (2024)
Julie Goldsmith (b.1964) is a London-based sculptor and member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, known for her painted ceramic portraits that blend Gothic, Baroque, and mythic influences. Her work explores themes of mourning, legacy, and survival through intimate, storytelling-based forms housed in antique frames. Goldsmith’s sculptures and drawings have been exhibited at venues including Somerset House and the Saatchi Gallery, and her work appears in collections and publications internationally.
Nettle Grellier, Girl Friendly (2024)
Nettle Grellier (b.1993) is a UK-based painter whose work explores intimacy, touch, and bodily presence through soft, earthy palettes and figurative forms. A graduate of the University of Brighton and the Turps Banana Correspondence Course, she places her figures within tactile, dreamlike natural settings that heighten the emotional and physical tone of the work. Her paintings have been shown in exhibitions throughout the UK, Europe, and Australia.
Marcelle Hanselaar, When Lilith Flew Over Scheveningen 6 and 3,
and It’s You I Am Looking For (2025)
Marcelle Hanselaar (b.1945) is a London-based painter and etcher whose work delves into raw desires, hidden impulses, and the human condition through figurative compositions. Largely self-taught after briefly attending the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, she moved from abstraction to figuration and printmaking. Her striking oil paintings and etched prints, often infused with dark humor and theatrical flair, confront themes of identity, impulse, and social masks, and have been exhibited and collected worldwide, including by the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Leoni Ifill, Four Legged Girl on a Lake (2024)
Leoni Ifill (b.2003) is a painter and visual artist from North-West London with Caribbean heritage. Her work explores feminist politics and the socialisation of women through autobiographical, allegorical paintings. Using pink, glitter, and sparkle as symbols of resistance, she reclaims materials and imagery often dismissed as superficial. Centering herself as subject, Leoni confronts misogynoir, objectification, and the male gaze, transforming personal narrative into collective critique.
Sadie Lee, Catalogue (a) (2025)
Sadie Lee (b.1967) is a British figurative painter whose work explores themes of gender, sexuality, and the aging body. She has exhibited at major venues including the National Portrait Gallery in London, Manchester City Art Gallery, and the Schwules Museum in Berlin. In addition to her painting practice, she teaches life drawing and runs the Queer Perspectives program at the National Portrait Gallery.
Hattie Malcomson, Eve and Lilith’s Kiss in Paradise (2024)
Hattie Malcomson (b. 1998) is a London-based artist who graduated with an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in 2024. Her work features female characters drawn from myth, employing humor and subversion to challenge traditional Western representations of women. By connecting past and present, her art unpacks the enduring madonna-whore dichotomy, blending sensuality with grotesque imagery. Malcomson often uses her own body to embody these characters, highlighting the ongoing relevance of these ancient stories.
Efrat Merin, A Spell for Not Walking Upside Down in the World of the Dead (2025)
Efrat Merin (b.1989) is a London-based artist and graduate of Turps Art School who recently completed her Painting MA at the Royal College of Art. Her work merges lesbo-futuristic and Judeo-futuristic mythologies, using a distinctive sgraffito technique to explore themes of desire, oppression, and liberation through layered, anthropomorphic figures. She has received several awards and grants, and her work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Anima Mundi Gallery and SVA Stroud, as well as featured in several publications.
Ines Michelotto, Are We Safe? (2023)
Inès Michelotto (b.1997) is a London-based multidisciplinary artist originally from Italy, who graduated from UAL Wimbledon College of Arts. Her work spans painting, drawing, costume design, and performance and explores themes of femininity, identity, and transformation, drawing inspiration from expressionists and portraitists to reflect her own personal experiences. Michelotto has exhibited widely in galleries across London and her work has been featured in various publications.
Malca Mizrahi, Girls in Imperfect Solidarity (Diptych) (2024)
Malca Mizrahi (b.1978) is a British-Argentine artist based in London with a background in architecture and teaching. A former Lead Designer with Zaha Hadid Architects, she holds a doctorate from the Bartlett School of Architecture, where her research on “Lyrical Space” explored the emotional and spatial dimensions of visual complexity. Her oil paintings, notably the Marginalia series, portray marginalised figures in Latin America through textured, atmospheric layers that blur abstraction and figuration. Her work examines vulnerability, memory, and materiality through a process rooted in excavation and transformation.
Kadie Salmon, Violet (Rooftop) (2016)
Kadie Salmon (b.1986) is a Scottish artist, writer, and curator based in London, holding an MFA in Sculpture from Edinburgh College of Art. Her multidisciplinary practice includes photography, sculpture, moving image, painting and poetry, focusing on female sexuality and gender through the lens of folklores and mythologies. She exhibits internationally and has received awards and residencies from institutions such as the Henry Moore Foundation and Arts Council England.
Janet Sainsbury, Quiet Chafing (2024)
Janet Sainsbury (b.1963) paints eclectic figures from the past century —artists, writers, and cultural icons— chosen for their compelling stories, striking presence, or overlooked significance. Through research and repetition, she reimagines their likenesses in oil, ink, and watercolor, often working on found materials like postcards and ephemera. Her process is both an exploration of image and a quiet act of recognition.