Often mistaken as subversion of ‘primitivism’, Paintsil deliberately and consciously refuses to root her work in the European Fine Art Canon, Paintsil’s visual language finds its basis in traditional West African Crafts and Art - carvings, wood sculptures, masks - exchanging the hard materials for soft, in an interrogation of gendered labour, particularly the labour of working class women.
Paintsil primarily works with discarded, found and repurposed fabrics connecting to her family tradition of nothing going to waste.
Anya made her debut at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London in 2020, and since then Anya has received sustained interest from private collectors and public institutions. Recent acquisitions include Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The National Museum of Wales, The Whitworth Gallery, Manchester and The Women’s Art Collection at Cambridge University. Her work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Forbes, The Guardian and Ocula.
