Tjili Grant Wetherill

TJILI (pronounced “Chilli”) is a talented young artist who has cerebral palsy, is deaf and cannot speak.

Born in 2001 weighing just 1kg, TJILI was the only survivor of triplets abandoned at a Cambodian hospital.

She was adopted by a British couple and has been brought up in Singapore, the UK and Malaysia.

With great determination and enthusiasm, TJILI is able to overcome her challenges to create amazing paintings featuring her favourite creatures, characters and places from around the world.

Unknown as an artist at the start of 2017, TJILI’s work is now critically acclaimed and internationally recognized after three of her paintings featured in the Royal Watercolour Society’s 2017 and 2018 international “Contemporary Watercolour Competition” exhibitions in London. Her art graces public and private collections globally, appears on Tanzanian stamps, and decorates official Rubik’s® cubes.

Visit to view TJILI’s vibrant, multi-coloured artwork and art-gift collections, and see more about her inspirational life story (including the BBC videos viewed over 50 million times worldwide since March 2017).

TJILI is #DifferentlyAbled

Read more >

BBC Global News video >

The One Show video >

Royal Watercolour Society "2018 Contemporary Watercolour Competition" ~ March 2018, Bankside Gallery, London, UK (read more > https://bit.ly/TJILI-RWS-CWC2018)

"Featured Artist" ~ Jan/Feb 2018, Rum's Eg Gallery, Romsey, UK (read more > https://bit.ly/TJILI-Exhibition-At-Rums-Eg)

Royal Watercolour Society "2017 Contemporary Watercolour Competition" ~ March 2017, Bankside Gallery, London, UK (read more > https://bit.ly/TJILI-RWS-2017-Exhibition)