Exhibition launch event

Described by Time Out (2023) as “one of the best young artists working in London today” and by The Standard (2024) as “a creative to watch,” Olivia Sterling (b. 1996, Peterborough, UK) is a rising voice in contemporary British painting. She holds a BA from the University of Derby (2018) and an MA from the Royal College of Art (2020).

This exhibition presents a new body of work by Sterling in dialogue with a single painting by Francis Bacon, Two Figures in a Room (1959). Together, their works explore the distortion of the human form under social and psychological pressure, treating the body as a contested site; stripped, compressed, or mocked, to confront systems of violence and dehumanisation. While Bacon’s work reflects internal, existential trauma and the horrors of the flesh, Sterling reframes these concerns through race, identity, and cultural specificity, foregrounding the external, societal violence imposed on the body. This is not a retrospective homage but an exciting activation of Bacon’s work through a politically charged lens.

All welcome!

Image 1: Olivia Sterling, Lincolnshire Sausages 2.

Image 2: Olivia Sterling. Photo: Matt Snellin.

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Host or Publisher Norwich University of the Arts