Abi Joy Samuel (London, 1993) is a critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning interdisciplinary artist based in London, working across sculpture, installation, photography, and painting. Samuel has a rich educational background, starting with an Art Foundation at Central Saint Martins (2012) followed by a degree in Fashion Design (the University of Westminster 2017), and more recently an intensive drawing program at the Royal Drawing School (2023) and the Royal College of Art (Graduate Diploma in Fine Art, 2024, with distinction). Samuel’s diverse training underpins her distinctive approach to materials and storytelling. She was awarded the prestigious Quinn Emanuel Artist-In-Residence in January 2024, culminating in an exhibition at Frieze Gallery, Mayfair.

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Samuel’s practice begins with found objects—from a waterlogged chair abandoned on the street to an old shirt knotted around a lamp post. These artefacts, marked by human touch and weathered by time, hold echoes of rootlessness and longing for a lost homeland. Through deconstruction and transformation, these fragments evolve into ready-made installations or are reconstructed into sculptures of her alter ego. This process reflects Samuel’s exploration of displacement and belonging, rooted in her experiences as a British Jewish woman whose early years began in foster care.

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Exploring her sense of identity is integral to Samuel’s practice and finds its most raw and unfiltered form through drawing and painting. Pastel, charcoal, and paint are mediums through which she layers vulnerable and violent lines to create distorted self-portraits. These works interrogate the possibilities of colour and mood, exploring her Jewish heritage, eroticism, and sexual expression, alongside the vulnerability and sensitivity she carries daily.

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In her sculptures, Samuel gravitates towards skin-like natural materials such as banana skins and liquid latex. These tactile elements draw on her fashion design background, where she explored the human form as a vessel of expression, with each outfit reflecting the possibilities of playing a role. Sewing and pattern-cutting techniques inform sculptures that use the body as both a mould and a site of metamorphosis. Whether through moth-like second skins or fragmented self-portraits, Samuel’s work embodies the fluidity of identity, exploring personal and public transformations.

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Samuel’s practice is unified by a desire to probe the self, navigating the tensions between vulnerability and resilience, and seeking connection in the echoes of what has been lost or left behind. Samuel is currently working towards a duo show in San Francisco with Ryan Graff Contemporary in August 2025 and will be beginning a Masters in Sculpture in September 2025 at the Royal College of Art. 

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