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A brush with...podcast
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A brush with… Somaya Critchlow — podcast

Critchlow, known for her paintings and drawings of Black women, often nude, discusses the power of David Lynch’s films, the consistent importance to her of Japanese manga, and being “comfortable with feeling uncomfortable”

Sponsored by
Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack
19 February 2025
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Portrait of Somaya Critchlow
Courtesy of Dulwich Picture Gallery

Portrait of Somaya Critchlow
Courtesy of Dulwich Picture Gallery

A brush with...

In this podcast, based on The Art Newspaper's regular interview series, our host Ben Luke talks to artists in-depth. He asks the questions you've always wanted to: who are the artists, historical and contemporary, they most admire? Which are the museums they return to? What are the books, music and other media that most inspire them? And what is art for, anyway?

Somaya Critchlow talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work.

Somaya Critchlow, The Chamber II, 2024, oil on linen, 115 x 90 cm

© Somaya Critchlow. Courtesy the artist and Maximillian William, London. Photography by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Critchlow, born in London in 1993, makes paintings and drawings of Black women, often nude, that are rooted in the present and yet draw on a wealth of imagery from the recent and distant past. The women are fictional but can be informed by anything from self-portraits and other life studies to images from pop culture and depictions of women in the history of art. They engage frankly with what it means to represent the female body and with power relations: between the artist and her subject, between the subject and the viewer, and ultimately between Critchlow and us.

Figure Holding a Little Teacup, 2019

© Somaya Critchlow. Image courtesy of the artist and Maximillian William, London. Photography: Kalory Photo & Video

Depending on your perspective, her art offers different degrees of delight and discomfort. But her balance of fine drawing, a time-honoured approach to paint and colour, and arresting imagery means that her work is endlessly intriguing. She discusses the breakthrough moment where she realised that she was her own first model, being “comfortable with feeling uncomfortable”, the influence on her of Angela Carter’s response to the Marquis de Sade, her engagement with a wealth of visual artists, from Käthe Kollwitz to Francesca Woodman, Leonor Fini, Titian and Francesco de Goya, the power of David Lynch’s films and the consistent importance to her of Japanese manga.

After Persephone, 2024

© Somaya Critchlow. Courtesy the artist and Maximillian William,
London. Photography by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

She gives insight into her life in the studio and responds to our usual questions, including the ultimate: what is art for?

Somaya Critchlow: The Chamber, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, until 20 July. Group shows: A Room Hung with Thoughts British Painting Now, Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, US, until 11 May; Woman in a Rowboat, Olivia Foundation, Mexico City, until 28 September.

This podcast is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app.

The free app offers access to a vast range of international cultural organisations through a single download, with new guides being added regularly. They include the Dulwich Picture Gallery, where Somaya Critchlow is showing her work between February and July of 2025. If you download Bloomberg Connects you’ll find that the guide to the gallery has a section on the exhibition, with pictures of Somaya’s work in situ in the historic gallery spaces. There is also extensive content on the gallery’s other exhibition, Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious, the first major exhibition of the British artist. You can explore the works while listening to the actor Tamsin Greig reading excerpts from Garwood’s autobiography. Elsewhere, the guide features an animated film telling the story of the gallery and a guided tour of the many masterpieces in its collection.

A brush with...podcastDulwich Picture GalleryWomen Artists
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