Vanessa Endeley is a visual artist based in London, whose painting practice explores the complexities of being human: how we connect, what we conceal, what we remember, and the things we struggle to put into words.

Working with bold colour, layered patterns and expressive, tactile surfaces, Vanessa creates figurative paintings that draw viewers in through their visual richness, then invite them to look beyond what is immediately visible. Her figures often turn away from the viewer or have their faces partially obscured, leaving space for ambiguity, curiosity and personal interpretation.

Her work moves between the intimate and the universal, finding stories in everyday interactions, relationships, vulnerability and the quiet negotiations that shape how we move through the world. There is often a playfulness in her approach too; an interest in the humour, contradictions and unexpected moments that make people who they are.

Originally from Lagos, Nigeria, Vanessa holds an MA in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism from the London College of Communication. Her background in photography continues to inform the way she thinks about people, perspective and storytelling, while painting has become a space for experimentation with colour, texture and narrative.

Her work has been exhibited at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, Christie’s Lates, the Barbican Library and Art X Lagos, among others. She has also collaborated with Cartier and contributed to Holding Space, a research project exploring how students make work around personal traumatic experiences in higher education. Alongside her studio practice, Vanessa works across commissions and creative collaborations, bringing her distinctive visual language to projects beyond the canvas.