Rabiya Nagi’s painting practice draws on personal and collective memory as she investigates how the past shapes the present and how histories, both personal and collective, echo across time. Often prompted by fleeting observations and fragments of everyday experience, these concerns emerge in paintings where layers of reference and reinterpretation blur the boundaries between memory and imagination.

Working across large-scale paintings and smaller, cropped compositions, Nagi creates images that hover between recognition and uncertainty. Through her practice, she interrogates the act of seeing and challenges perception by constructing disconcerting visual stagings. These compositions, often unsettling and ambiguous, evoke an uncanny sense of dislocation infused with the surreal.

Drawing from the language of film, Nagi develops her own imagery alongside reimagined reference photographs. Her work is further informed by literature and art history, which she recontextualizes through a contemporary lens to reveal new ways of looking and remembering.

Alongside painting, Nagi explores moving image, text, and sculpture, approaching each through a painterly lens.

Education 

·     Central Saint Martins, (2021/23): MA Fine Art
·     Royal College of Art (2020/21): Graduate Diploma
·     Kensington and Chelsea College (2019/20): HNC

Solo Show

2026 - ‘Corps Exquis’, solo show, The Assembly Room, 17 Church Street, Long Buckby, Northants.

Group Shows

2026 - Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, Richmond TW9.
2026 - ‘Meanwhile, Here’, BOTH Gallery, 323 Archway Road, London N6.
2025 - Open studios, Proposition studios,Bethnal Green, London E2.
2025 - An-X, ‘If I Become An Alien?’ group show Finissage, SW19.
2025 - Proposition Open Studios, Bethnal Green, E2.
2025 - An-X, ‘If I Become An Alien?’ group show, Pause/Frame at Koppel Project, London SW19.
2025 - The Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, Lauderdale House, London, N6.
2025 - ‘Exposed’, The Art Academy Gallery, SE1.
2024 - ‘OFFPRINT’, Tate Modern, Turbine Hall, London SW1.
2024 - The Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, The Landmark Art Centre, Teddington.
2024 - ‘Agents of Deterioration, Sideshow’, Lethaby Gallery, London N1.
2023 - ‘Mootookakio’ssin: Creating in Spacetime’, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery,   Canada.
2023 - ‘Un(done)’, Hypha, Stratford, E20.
2023 - ‘Across and Over’ Royal College of Art, online.
2023 - ‘Ost’, end of ‘Prisoners of Love’, residency show, Kopple City, EC2.
2023 - An-X, ‘What We Thought We Knew’, Koppel Project Station, NW3.
2023 - Central Saint Martins graduation show.
2023 - The Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, Lauderdale House, Highgate, N6.
2023 - ‘Prisoners of Love: Affect, containment, and alternative futures’, Lethaby Gallery.
2023 - ‘Transparent Ritual’ Art Publications, Lethaby Gallery.
2022 - Annex Open Studios, CSM Archway Campus.
2022 - ‘MERCH’ Print Exhibition / Sale, Koppel X Gallery, Piccadilly Circus, W1.
2022 – ‘Without Space’ MFA Open Studios, CSM Archway Campus.
2022 - Rolls Building, London, EC4
2022 - Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, online.
2022 - ‘This is Not a Party’, MA Interim Show, Central St Martins, Trinity Buoy Wharf.
2021 - Rolls Building, London, EC4.
2021 - Shiftists, ‘Lingua Franker’, Hoxton 253, London, EC1.
2021 - Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, online.
2019 - Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition.
2019 - Collage Arts Open Studios, Cumberland Road, Woodgreen N22.

 Awards

·    Special Commendation, Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, 2026.
·    High Commendation, Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, 2026.
·    High Commendation, Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, 2025.
·    High Commendation, Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, 2024.
·    High Commendation, Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, 2023.
·    Laura Devine Prize, best 3-D work, Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, 2021.
·    Special Commendation, Law Society Art Group Annual Exhibition, 2019.

Residencies

·     Residency, ‘Prisoners of Love’, OPENing, London EC2, August -September 2023.

Publications

·    Artist Talk Magazine, 34/2024
·    OFFPRINT, Tate Modern
·    Across & Over, RCA X HSBC
·    Lingua Franker

Upcoming Events

·     Open Studio, Proposition Studios, Poplar, 27.06.26.

Selected Professional Activities

2026 – Guest Judge, Enfield Community Art Exhibition.
2023–Present – Member of An-X, an artist-led collective focused on critical dialogue, networking and curatorial activity. Contributed to curation, exhibition installation and delivery, including a collaborative Wimbledon exhibition and art trail (2025) developed in partnership with local businesses.

Studio

Studio 118, Proposition studios, 22 Market Square, Poplar, London E14 6AB.