A world of colour, shape and power. Walking through the Women In Art Fair feels like someone just held the door of a new world open for you: a world where gender dissolves into the background. It’s easy to forget you’re in a girl’s world when the works on display show no complaints of inequality. Instead, a need for change is suggested silently through the sheer quality of the works.

The portraits of artist Florence Yuqing explore the delicate intricacies of humanity through careful, beautifully rendered watercolour. The ethereal lightness of female flesh harmonises with the strength conveyed in the sitter’s gaze.

Katherine Peeke’s painting Isolation (2023) shows a woman in a hijab walking, but her body is disguised and abstracted in deep blue fabric: it’s political, shrouded in a haunting beauty. Though the colour suggests freedom, it seems to imprison her as she walks an enigmatic path of escape, and nowhere to go.

A few steps away, we find the exuberance of life captured on the canvases of Lucille Dweck, where her remarkable talent in oil painting invites us to witness the rejuvenating essence of water, making it appear as if it is flowing effortlessly.

Nova Williams’ Brown Skin Girl (2023) unveils a simple yet painstakingly beautiful rendering in oil of her sister gracefully crouched down in mango and ocean colours. It’s the unmistakable aura of liberation and tranquillity intermingled with a sense of persecution that firmly anchors us in the Jamaican milieu.

Each artist, in her unique way, adds another layer to the ever-evolving narrative of women in art, where works transcends labels.

Showing at Mall Galleries near Buckingham Palace, 11 – 14 October, 2023.