Malca Mizrahi

Malca’s work examines the representation of the female body through psychological, political, and historical perspectives. Trained across fine art and architecture, she holds a PhD from The Bartlett and the Slade School of Fine Art, an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, and an MArch from The Bartlett School of Architecture.

Following an extensive practice in architecture and architectural education—including her role as Lead Designer for the Glasgow Museum of Transport with Zaha Hadid and The Brunel Building in London—Malca’s oil paintings extend her doctoral research into lyricism in the visual, exploring the relationship between visual complexity, spatiality, and emotion.

Her process begins with a textured underpainting: a primitive loam from which the figures gradually emerge. Her exploration of visual and tactile depth oscillates between chance and control, engaging with the fluidity of paint, the resistance of the surface, and the unpredictable chemical reactions that occur within it. This underlayer, or metaphorical skin, becomes an emotional landscape—a liminal space that shifts between abstraction and figuration. Working through a process of excavation, the paintings explore the nuances of human vulnerability and strength through the sensuousness of mark-making.

In Reimagining The Three Graces (2026), Mizrahi revisits Peter Paul Rubens’ iconic composition through a contemporary lens. Distorted yet exuberant, the figures move beyond idealised representations of the female body to embrace vulnerability, sensuality, ageing, and transformation. Through fluid layers of oil paint and a richly embodied treatment of flesh, the work reflects on the tensions between power and tenderness, autonomy and interdependence.