About Leah Davis
Leah Davis (b.1986, Thurso, Scotland)
MA Fine Art - with Merit (2022)
BA Contemporary Art - First Class (2020)
Works from her studio in Lossiemouth, Scotland
Leah Davis is a Scottish conceptual portrait painter, known for her quiet, yet emotionally charged oil portraits of women caught in stillness. Her work explores the spaces where memory, emotion, myth, and the subconscious intertwine. Often surreal and gently intense, her figures reflect the rich inner lives we all carry but rarely reveal.
Raised in Thurso, the northernmost town on the Scottish mainland, Davis grew up with a strong sense of otherness. That early experience of feeling out of place shapes her worldview and continues to inform her art. Her subjects are often solitary, captured in moments suspended between the external world and their inner terrain, inviting viewers to slow down and look inward.
Themes of transformation, vulnerability, and empowerment run throughout her work. Recurring motifs such as clown ruffles and bowties nod to the trickster archetype and to her grandmother, whose love of clowns and witchcraft left a lasting impression. These personal threads are woven into a symbolic visual language, layered with emotion and narrative.
Her paintings have been exhibited widely from the Highlands of Scotland to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and she was runner-up in the 2023 Highland Art Prize. Leah holds an MA in Fine Art (Merit) and a BA in Contemporary Art (First Class), working from her studio in Lossiemouth, Scotland.
Her paintings continue to resonate with collectors, curators, and kindred spirits alike.
“I grew up in the most northern town on mainland Scotland, surrounded by wild moors and the rough sea. From a young age, I was a dreamer, drawn to books, stories, myths, and the world's odd little curiosities. I often felt different and out of step with those around me, and those feelings have shaped both who I am and the work I make.
My paintings grow from these experiences. They are portraits woven with myth and memory, a way of holding both strength and vulnerability together on the same canvas. I explore personal themes of empowerment, healing, and self-discovery, inviting viewers to reflect on their own inner worlds as well.
I make work for people who have ever felt unusual or outside the norm. Each painting is a quiet companion, a reminder that what makes us different is also what makes us powerful and interesting.
At the heart of my practice is the connection between past and present, softness and resilience, the seen and the unseen, the artist and the viewer. Through these images, I hope to create a space where others can feel recognised, comforted, and a little less alone.”
