Anya Vero

Anya Vero, the artist

Vero’s work is a reflection of her inner journey in relation to the society and its systems with themes such as identity, sensuality and relationships as well as human trafficking and misplacement. Drawing on her anthropological knowledge she explores a variety of aspects of the human condition. She uses oil on silk painted over shaped canvases, playing with the explicit non-conformity to capture the fragility and sensuality of how humans happen to be. Her portraiture work revolves around female empowerment and role models, whereas her landscape series are portraits of the inner world reflecting on what is home.

A Ukrainian-Russian born in Latvia, she has a degree in Fine Art from the prestigious Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford University, Masters degrees in Anthropology from the London School of Economics and SOAS, and an art degree from the University of the Arts London. She grew up between 3 different states: school time in Latvia, village summers in Ukraine and a cultural programme in Moscow, moving away at the age of sixteen to London.

While in London she created Art for Freedom, a series focused on human trafficking, working in partnership with two Mexican organisations - SINTRATA and the Comisión Unidos Contra la Trata. She painted portraits from photographs of the survivors they work with, exhibiting them alongside their stories about their experiences. The collection was showcased at a multidisciplinary event at Carousel Gallery in London Mayfair, with talks by a leading Human Rights barrister, the international anti-slavery charity A21 and bespoke creations by a perfumer and a songwriter.

In London Vero took part in the Self Impressions Tate Exchange event at the Tate Modern, organised by the Institute of Philosophy, University of London, exploring different elements of identity alongside a line-up of leading philosophers and neuroscientists.

One of her recent collections celebrates Women Groundbreakers, through 33 paintings in oil on silk, with special events in Vienna at Area 1070 Gallery and at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, alongside performances, mini-lectures and presentations.