Artist Film: Niah McGiff on Painting and Process
London
Gravity
Gravity is a series rooted in my love of painting the figure. The body has always fascinated me as a subject. It can communicate vulnerability, intimacy, tension and connection without saying a word. These paintings are less concerned with likeness and more interested in expression. Through colour, gesture and line, I use the figure as a way of exploring the complexities of inner life. For me, painting is not about documenting a person as they appear, but about responding to what it feels like to be human.
GRAVITY will be on display at Alexandra Palace's Creativity Pavilion from 21–28 July 2026. View the exhibition listing →
Vestiges (ongoing)
Vestiges grew out of a habit of painting over old works. As I reworked them, parts of previous paintings would remain visible. Ghosts of figures, fragments of line and traces of colour would find their way back through the surface.
The series connects to my ongoing interest in the many versions of ourselves we carry, and the complexities of inner life. What fascinates me most is the process itself: scraping back, painting over and uncovering layers I didn't know were there. It feels like dancing with the work. The more I try to control a painting, the less interesting it becomes. Sometimes you need to get out of your own way and trust where the painting is leading.
I am an oil painter and independent curator based in London. Working from photographs, observation and lived experience, I create figures that exist somewhere between recognition and disappearance. Rather than depicting the figure representationally, I am interested in what painting can reveal beneath the surface, exploring the traces of experience that continue to shape who we are.
Underlying my practice is an interest in the explanatory gap: the distance between subjective experience and our ability to fully communicate it. Painting allows me to explore that space, acknowledging that some aspects of memory, emotion and identity can be felt but never completely articulated.
Working primarily in oil paint, my paintings develop through a process of building, removing and rebuilding. I often paint over earlier works, allowing earlier images to remain visible beneath the surface. These layers become part of the finished painting, reflecting my interest in identity as something that is continually changing and multifaceted. The process is as important as the final image, with each decision leaving its own history within the work.
Alongside my studio practice, I organise and self-fund exhibitions that create opportunities for emerging artists at the beginning of their careers. I see this as an extension of my practice and a way of contributing to the artistic community around me.
Ultimately, my work asks how painting can preserve something that is always changing. I hope the figures remain open enough for viewers to bring their own memories and experiences, allowing each painting to become a shared space between the work and the person standing in front of it.
Niah McGiff (b. 1999) is a London based artist whose paintings use the figure as a site of psychological and emotional inquiry.
She trained at the Essential School of Painting, graduating with distinction from the Foundation Diploma in 2019, before studying Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts, UAL. She has exhibited widely across London and actively curates group exhibitions supporting emerging artists and community led initiatives.
McGiff was awarded First Place in the RISE Emerging Artist Competition and will present work at the Henley Festival in July 2026. Her current body of work, GRAVITY, will be shown in a solo exhibition in London this July, followed by a second presentation at Art Floor Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan in September, her first international showing.
She also recently curated and exhibited in Common Matter at One Navigator Square, Archway, London.
Signed fine art print.
Professionally printed at A4 size and presented in a black wooden frame with an off-white window mount.
Framed size: approximately 25 x 35 cm.£55
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