Victoria Cantons

Victoria Cantons is a cross-disciplinary artist and curator with a primarily drawing/painting practice that is informed by a multinational and multicultural upbringing and a background in photography and stage drama as well as the fact that she is also transgender. She has exhibited internationally and her work is included in numerous private collections.
Cantons lives and works in London.

Artist Statement
As a trans woman I have felt stigmatisation many times, it is this that has pushed me to to question how much freedom do we have? I want to understand as much as I can about what it means to be human. The human condition, gender, and social identity are at the core of my work. I am not a transgender female artist but rather an artist who happens to be a woman and transgender. We are not just the clothed person we present to the world. We have many faces. We are defined by our response to experience and our relationship with each other. In the wake of #MeToo, what do we make of masculinity and femininity? I am interested in themes of power, identity, and male and female perceptions of each other. These aspects connect us all and yet we are also unique individuals. Painting, for me, is in part about exploring that and finding ...

2018 - 21 MFA Fine Art: Painting, The Slade School of Art, University College London
2017 - 18 Painters Studio Programme, Turps Art School, London
2014 - 17 BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting, Wimbledon College of Arts, University of the Arts London
2013 Summer Foundation Course, The Slade School of Art, University College London
1995 - 97 Drama Studies, Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA South), London

SOLO

2020
Champagne tastes on beer money, Guts Gallery, London
2018
Give Me Your Hand So That I May Not Be Alone, 48 Woodstock Road, London

GROUP

2021
TRANSCENDENTAL, Cuturi Gallery, Singapore
When Snowdrops Rise, MAPA Fine Art, The Hague
New Futures Digital: Slade, Kovet.art Gallery, London
Redirecting, Tree Art Museum, Beijing

2020
PAPA RAGAZZE, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles
the tales we tell ourselves, Purslane Gallery, London/Online
TwentyTwenty Women, Artistellar Gallery, London/Online
A Rudimentary Education, Art Lacuna, London
RA Summer (Winter) Show, Royal Academy of Art, London
LONDON GRADS NOW., Saatchi Gallery, London
RCA x Slade Graduate Fine Art Showcase, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London
Begin Again, Guts Gallery, London
Tomorrow: London, White Cube Gallery, London
Trans-Identity: Body, Soul and Time, NoSpace Organisation, online show via instagram & NoSpace WeChat Official
When Shit Hits the Fan, Guts Gallery, online show via instagram

2019
Little Originals exhibition, Dock Street Studios, Dundee
Annual Open Exhibition 2019, The South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts @ Exeter Castle, Devon
Graduate Interim Show, Slade School of Art (UCL), London
Beautiful China, Beaut...