Denise defines herself as ‘Artist, Mother, Lesbian, Londoner’ and her work as a contemporary portrait & figurative painter is defined by these identities.

Having trained at Central Saint Martins in Theatre Design, and after a varied career in design and artist development, Denise took the leap during the 2020 pandemic and quit her day job and became a full-time artist. 

As a South East Londoner of mixed heritage with a British Indian wife and two kids, producing work that celebrates diversity and challenges the norms of traditional portraiture is a central theme in Denise’s work. Her first collection of works in 2020, focused on everyday ‘game-changers’ working in the LGBTQ movement, particularly celebrating Black Queer culture.

More recently Denise has begun working in collage and is enjoying the process of ‘painting with scissors’. Head to the Recent Work tab for more about her latest collection Wonderfully Woman.

However her work evolves, it is always rooted in the human figure. It looks to celebrate, reimagine and explore memories and relationships past and present, through colour and shape.