Jemila Isa is a British artist, of Nigerian descent. Her practice spanning painting, sculpture, animation and mono-print, engages with themes of spirituality, inherited narratives, womanhood and the tension of locating the self amidst tradition.

Her work often reflects on the role of religion and spirituality in shaping the lives of women—particularly within West African societies and across the diaspora. In this context, her figures, frequently rendered with wide, startled eyes or vacant, apathetic expressions, embody a quiet urgency. These gazes speak to the invisible constraints imposed by rigid beliefs, echoing the internal conflicts of women denied agency, expression, or alternatives.

Isa’s practice is as much about the unseen as it is about the tangible—the invisible hands of tradition, the presence of ancestral spirits, the silence of women shaped by expectation. At once intimate and expansive, her work challenges viewers to consider what is inherited, what is imposed, and what might be reclaimed.