Niah McGiff

My work concerns the idea that art cannot fully be verbally translated. I explore the distance between what is felt and what can be said. Philosopher Joseph Levine names this the “explanatory gap,” and my practice moves within that space, using material and gesture to approach what resists articulation.

I grew up in England with Asian and English heritage, and questions of belonging have always shaped the way I think about identity and emotional life. My practice has largely centred on figuration, using the body as a site to explore psychological states and the tensions that emerge within relationships, memory and self-perception.

In many of my paintings the figure appears unstable or partially dissolving. I am interested in how the body can hold emotional weight without needing to describe a clear narrative. By allowing forms to break down or drift between representation and abstraction, the figure becomes a space where inner experience can surface in less controlled ways.

Fundamentally my practice is concerned with the materiality of paint itself. Through working and reworking the surface, I explore how gesture, colour and texture can carry emotional meaning where language begins to fall short.