Serena Curmi is a painter based in the UK. Born to British and Maltese parents, Serena spent the majority of her childhood living on board a sailboat, making multiple homes in the US, the Caribbean, Spain, Malta and the Isle of Man. She undertook her training in Illustration at Falmouth College of Arts and practiced as an illustrator for a number of years before turning to fine art. She has been awarded prizes in the Columbia Threadneedle Prize and the Royal West of England Academy Annual Open Exhibition and her work has been selected for several prominent juried open exhibitions including the ING Discerning Eye and the Wells Art Contemporary. She now practices from her art studio in Bristol.

Serena's practice spans both landscape painting and portraiture, tied together through a shared concern with the intangibility of memory and history. This attempt to materialise the passing of time runs throughout her work, visually referencing historical photographic imagery as in her mountain pieces or directly borrowing from it with her ongoing research-based project of 19th century asylum patients, (see Portraits). The notion that 'time' is inevitable and absolute, conjures up a variety of emotions; nostalgia, sadness, intrigue or a yearning for a time that is no longer accessible or may never have even existed, reminding us that our perceptions of history and memory are often idealised or reconstructed. This is communicated through her muted, faded hues and semi-transparent matte textures.

PRIZES

2020 - Evolver Feature Prize, RWA 168 Annual Open Exhibition - Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2018 - Prize Winner, The Columbia Threadneedle Prize - Mall Galleries, London

SOLO SHOWS

2020 - 'Uncharted' - Hybrid Gallery, Devon

2015 - 'Unsung' - Hybrid Gallery, Devon

PUBLICATIONS

2022 - British Journal of Psychiatry - Front cover image

2021 - Evolver Magazine - Article about ‘Bristol Asylum, Case Studies’ series, written by Fiona Robinson, President at RWA

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2024 - RWA 171st Annual Open Exhibition - Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2024 - Wells Art Contemporary - Wells Cathedral

2024 - Chelsea Art Society Summer Exhibition - London

2024 - ‘MINI’ - Canfas Gallery, Cardigan, Wales

2023 - The Guildford House Open Competition - Guildford

2023 - The London Art Fair - GBS Fine Art, London

2023 - The Lanesborough Hotel (Art Acumen), group show, London

2022 - ING Discerning Eye - Mall Galleries, London

2022 - RWA 169th Annual Open Exhibition - Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2022 - ‘A Room of Her Own’ group show - Irving Gallery, Oxford

2022 - The London Art Fair - GBS Fine Art, London

2022 - 'Head to Head' group show - GBS Fine Art, Wells

2022 - ‘Near and Far’ - group show - Gala Fine Art, Aldeburgh

2022 - ‘A Wider Landscape’ - group show - The Alpine Club, London

2021 - Figurative Art Now, Mall Galleries - London

2020 - ING Discerning Eye - Mall Galleries - London

2020 - RWA 168th Annual Open Exhibition - Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2020 - Ascent' group show - Irving Gallery, Oxford

2020 - 'A Change of Season' group show- The Gallery, Holt

2020 - The London Art Fair - GBS Fine Art, London

2019 - ING Discerning Eye - Mall Galleries - London

2019 - RWA 167th Annual Open Exhibition - Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2018 - The Columbia Threadneedle Prize - Mall Galleries, London

2017 - ING Discerning Eye - Mall Galleries - London

2017 - RWA 165th Annual Open Exhibition - Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2016 - 'A Singular Vision' - Hybrid Gallery, Devon

2015 - ING Discerning Eye - Mall Galleries - London

2014 - RWA 162nd Annual Open Exhibition - Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2014 - 'Wonderland' group show - Hybrid Gallery, Devon

2014 - 'An Imaginary Friend' group show - Hybrid Gallery, Devon

2013 - 'Snow Time' group show- Hybrid Gallery, Devon

2012 - Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition - The Victoria Art Gallery, Bath

2011 - 'Inside Out' - Jamaica Street Artists, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2011 - 'Red, Yellow, Blue' - Jamaica Street Artists, St George's, Bristol

2010 - Jamaica Street Artists Exhibition & Auction - Bristol Museum, Bristol

EDUCATION

1998 - 2001 - BA (Hons) Illustration - Falmouth College of Arts