Roxana Halls is a London-based figurative painter best known for her images of laughing wayward women. Her work considers how self- surveillance circumscribes the repertoire of legitimate actions available to women and subverts these internalised rules of conduct. Frequently employing a wry humour and potent glamour to foreground her unsettling narratives, Halls’ paintings act as an antidote to passive spectatorship with their febrile interplay of class, queerness, erotics, performance, agency and refusal.
Solo Exhibitions include Die Augen der Roxana Halls, Haus Kunst Mitte, Berlin, Germany (2023); Roxana Halls at the BBC, Colley Ison Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2023); Eyes of Roxana Halls, Gallery 46, Whitechapel, London (2022); Crime Spree, Colley Ison Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2021); A Private View, Stephen Lacey Gallery, London, UK (2018); Weimar & Other Earthly Desires, The Stash Gallery at Vout-O-Reenee’s, London, UK (2017); Unknown Women, Hayhill Gallery, Baker St, London, UK (2015); Appetite, Hayhill Gallery, Baker St, London, UK (2014); Domestic Disturbance, Beaux Arts Bath, Bath, UK (2012); Shadow Play, HayHill Gallery, Cork St, London, UK (2011); Tingle-Tangle and Other Tales, Lauderdale House, Highgate, London, UK (2011); Roxana Halls’ Tingle Tangle, National Theatre, South Bank, London, UK (2009); Third Solo Exhibition, Beaux Arts Bath, Bath, UK (2004); Second Solo Exhibition, Beaux Arts Bath, Bath, UK (2002); First Solo Exhibition, Beaux Arts Bath, Bath, UK (2000).
Group Exhibitions include (Upcoming) Tainted Love, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2026); (Upcoming) Popcorn and Pickles, Kornfeld Gallery at 69 Salon, Berlin, Germany (2026); (Upcoming) Taking Pride in Art, Capital Group, London, UK (2026); Faces of Mind, Haus Kunst Mitte, Berlin, Germany (2026); Under Our Skin, Brixton Tate Library, London, UK (2026); AOAP for International Women’s Day, The Bomb Factory, London, UK (2026); The Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer / National Portrait Gallery Award Exhibition, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, UK (2025-2026); British Contemporary, Colley Ison Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2025); Reframing the Muse, St John’s College, Oxford, UK (2024); Face to Face: A Celebration of Portraiture, Marlborough Gallery, London (2023); Lost Girls, Flowers Gallery, Cork St, London (2023); Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Competition, Piano Nobile, London (2023); Bodies in Trouble, Haus Kunst Mitte, Berlin (2022); Extraordinary Portraits, Turner Contemporary, Margate (2022); Everytime We Say Goodbye, The Project Gallery, Athens, Greece (2022); Nightclubbing, InFems Art Collective, M&C Saatchi, London (2022); Five Needle Five Wire, InFems Art Collective, Thameside Studios, London (2022); Pride Art Exhibition, Clifford Chance, London (2022); Pride Art: A Celebration of Queer Creativity, MUFG, London (2022); The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London (by invitation of Adelaide Damoah) (2021); No Reserve, InFems Art Collective, Co-Curator, Leicester Contemporary, Leicester (2021); KAPOW! The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England (2020); Dear Christine (a tribute to Christine Keeler), Arthouse 1, London (2020); “Not Only can Women Paint but…”, Ruth Borchard Collection, London (2020); Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Competition, Kings Place Gallery, London (2019); 167th Annual Open Exhibition, Royal West Academy, Bristol (2019); Society of Women Artists, Mall Galleries, London (2019); RA Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London (2018); Featured in: Artfully Dressed: Women in the Artworld, portraits by Carla van de Puttelaar, The Weiss Gallery, London (2018); Winter Pride Art Awards, Islington Arts Factory, Runner-Up (2018); Semblance, The Dukes Gallery, Dorchester (2016); The Discerning Eye Collection Exhibition, Temple Church, London (2015); Winter Pride Awards, Chart Gallery, Chelsea, London (2014), among more.
Highlights and Awards
Roxana Halls has been recognised through several awards, including The Derwent Special Award from the Society of Women Artists in 2017, the Founder’s Purchase Prize at the Discerning Eye Exhibition in 2010, and a win at Pride in the House. Earlier honours include The Villiers David Prize (2004) and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award (2001). Halls work is held in a number of significant public and private collections, including the Collection of Brian Sewell, St Catherine’s College, Oxford, the Jerwood Foundation, the Science Museum, the Collection of West Hertfordshire NHS Trust, the National Galleries of Scotland, the House of Carolina Herrera, and the Disney Archive.