Esme Lillico/ Figurative Art

She is an emerging artist and art educator based in Suffolk and Essex, currently completing a Master's degree in fine art with a focus on questioning gender narratives and autonomy through portraiture. Working primarily in charcoal and graphite, she creates large-scale portraits that challenge conventional representations of gender and beauty.

Her subjects are rendered with a technical mastery that demonstrates both classical training and a contemporary sensibility. Tattoos, unconventional hairstyles, and subverted gender codes become tools for interrogating the cultural narratives that shape how we see and value one another. Now exhibiting at The Open Gallery in Halifax as part of the Art of Woman open call and recently selected for the upcoming Black and White exhibition at the Fronteer Gallery, her work sits at the intersection of classical technique and feminist though. This is a combination that feels both timely and necessary.