Inessa Garder

My practice is grounded in painting as a lived, physical process shaped by movement, feeling, and experience. I work from a studio base in East London, while treating the studio itself as a nomadic structure that can shift across landscapes, residencies, communities and temporary contexts to bring my practice forward. I sometimes reduce my studio down to a travel sketchbook to drive through an untouched landscape on a motorbike and paint one-on-one with the scene that captivated me.

Trained as an architect, I continue to work conceptually with space and perception. My paintings carry traces of walking, gesture and duration. Projects such as Tale of the Highlands (Scotland, 2023) and A Way into the Sacred Time (India, 2019–2021) emerged through extended time spent in place, where painting unfolded alongside travel, routines, rituals, and performative actions.

This journey to Scotland was a 9-day trekking and painting adventure with my videography team (2023). We charted new routes to discover the most unique and picturesque locations that would inspire and transform us and viewers of my paintings. We cooked over open fires and slept in tents, lulled by the sound of the North Atlantic tide. We crafted a blueprint for inner freedom, independent of external circumstances, and I captured the landscapes in my paintings

Watch the 3 minute video art capturing the art expedition to Scotland and the Isle of Skye.

The 3-year journey through India (2019-2021) in search of the answers to some urgent questions; "Who am I?", "What is time?", and "What do I want to convey through painting?". Along the way,I uncovered unexpected treasures, not always the ones sought, but deeper and more meaningful. The project reflects a universal journey of the soul in search of its true place in the world.

Painting the flow of the Ganges is an attempt to comprehend something whose duration extends far beyond my lifetime—both into the past and into the future—yet in the present moment we are perfectly united, and I have access to infinity.