Against a background of living between cultures, Rabiya Nagi’s painting practice draws on personal and collective memory as she investigates how the past shapes the present and how history repeats itself. These ideas manifest visually in her paintings, where layers of reference and reinterpretation blur the boundaries between memory and imagination.
Nagi works in large formats alongside smaller, cropped compositions that capture the more intimate and fragmented moments of remembering. Through her practice, she interrogates the act of seeing and challenges perception by constructing disconcerting visual stagings. These compositions, often unsettling, evoke an uncanny sense of dislocation infused with the surreal.
Drawing from the language of film, Nagi works from her own work-specific imagery and reimagines 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.
Nagi also explores other forms of expression, including moving image, text, and sculpture—all approached through the lens of painting.
Education
· Central Saint Martins, (2021/23): MA Fine Art
· Royal College of Art (2020/21): Graduate Diploma
· Kensington and Chelsea College (2019/20): HNC
· University College London: Master of Laws (LLM)
Group Shows
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’ group show, 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’ - CSM, ‘Prisoners of Love’, 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
· 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 studios, Proposition studios,Bethnal Green, London E2, Saturday, 12 July 2025.
· An-X, ‘If I Become An Alien?’ group show Finissage, SW19, Sunday, 13 July 2025.
. CHT group show, online.
Studio
Studio 124, Proposition studios, 279 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 0EL.