Aniela Murphy (b. 1987) is a London-based contemporary painter, whose abstract work explores transformation, adaptation and the evolving nature of self through periods of profound change. After an 18-year hiatus from painting, becoming a mother brought her back to her practice as a way to examine, document, and make sense of the significant psychological and neurological shifts that accompany major life transitions.

Working within strict temporal and physical boundaries, she subverts traditional methods by using discarded household paint applied with cosmetic brushes. This deliberate pairing merges the language of construction and care with tools of scrutiny and self-presentation, creating a material dialogue between external expectations and internal experience. The resulting works trace processes of erosion, accumulation, and reinvention, revealing identity as something continually reshaped rather than fixed.

The paintings unfold as distorted landscapes of movement and transformation, occupying a space between openness and claustrophobia, stability and flux. Personal experiences of change become intertwined with broader conditions of uncertainty, from environmental instability to conflict and social fragmentation. Through abstraction, her paintings explores how individuals navigate upheaval, locating moments of resilience, fragility, and renewal within an increasingly unsettled world.