Lydia Merrett

I am an artist and academic, working as a Fine Art Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University.

I completed my MFA degree at the Slade School of Fine Art (UCL) in 2023 with a distinction and won the Almacantar Studio Prize for my graduate show. In 2022 I was awarded the Terence Cuneo Memorial Trust prize for my commitment to painting during my studies at the Slade. In 2016 I completed my BA from Goldsmiths, University of London where I also focused on painting and the female body.

My research is centred around experiences of womenhood, which incorporates painting, drawing and printmaking. My large-scale canvases celebrate women’s emotional, physical and psychological capabilities, whether they are captured running, practising a headstand or preparing for the act of painting.

Contextualised against traditional art-historical representations of women that frequently constrain the female body within interior settings or sexualise it as an object of desire, my paintings champion the potential for women to find freedom and friendship through physical expression. The active body becomes a site of confidence for women from which they are able to orientate and assert their place in the world as they engage in a diverse range of activities.

My work has been exhibited across the UK and, in 2024, I presented an online exhibition with Unit London and my first international exhibition in Seoul. My work is in collections around the world.