Samira Addo
About: A self-taught portrait artist, Samira’s style is considered as contemporary realism. She has had experience studying under artists such as Nathan Ford and Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco at The Art Academy. In 2018, she was the winner of Sky Arts' Portrait Artist of the Year and was commissioned for a portrait of the actor Kim Cattrall, now hanging in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.
On being part of the CBPP: “For me, it means being part of a community of artists. As my journey into contemporary portraiture hasn’t been the traditional route, it is a collective that gives me peers in the art world, which I very much value.”
On portraits: “I’ve tried a few landscape paintings but portraits definitely have my heart and I get inspired seeing people and postures. I’m drawn to faces and facial expressions. There’s a part of me that’s always trying to read expressions and body language and this heavily features in the whole portrait painting process.”
The Contemporary British Portrait Painters 2022 exhibition is on display downstairs at the Department Store, 248 Ferndale Road, London, SW9 8FR, 10-5pm, 11th-18th June. Admission is free. thecbpp.org Instagram: @thecbpp