Abi Joy Samuel

Not So Very Far Off, Lie More Ruins

Abi Joy Samuel (1993) is a London-based artist working predominantly in painting and sculpture. Her practice explores the gestures of the body, employing assemblage, dissection and layering to create figurative expressionist, monstrous beings. In her sculptural practice, Samuel interrogates the origins of the representation of the female form through the study of ancient Greek sculpture. Working with body casting methods made from plaster, silicone and bronze, fragmented limbs are mounted onto steel frames, reminiscent of museum archaeology displays. These parts can come together in Frankensteinlike assemblages, complete in their incompleteness. The modular aspect of her sculptures allows the works to be endlessly rearranged, reflecting the deep level of self-inquiry within her practice. This disruption becomes a form of agency over how the female body is presented, exploring vulnerability, identity, sexuality, life and death, time, decay, birth and the giving of. Samuel completed her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, supported by the Leverhulme Arts Scholarship. She was awarded the Quinn Emanuel Residency in 2024, culminating in an exhibition at Frieze London, and appeared on BBC Two’s The Big Deal in 2026. She is a finalist for the Women In Art Prize 2026.