Bianca Raffaella (b. 1992)

Being partially blind has not prevented Bianca Raffaella from becoming an artist. The British painter and graduate of the Tracey Emin Artist Residency (TEAR) is registered blind, although Raffaella can see things from within a metre and for brief moments of time in her left eye. 

Thus, she works from memory and sensory cues rather than direct observation, creating evocative and ephemeral paintings that capture fleeting moments and draw audiences into a world where images appear only briefly as faint shadows or flickers of light. 

Raffaella also relies on touch in her painting process. Never losing contact with the canvas, she blends delicate hues and dusty colours until they become an ethereal impression — cloudy details made with fingertips, brushstrokes or scrapes of a palette knife. 

In a series featuring a collection of textural flower paintings (two of which are in EKCART ASIA’s collection), Raffaella’s ability to navigate the canvas with these quick, expressive movements is eloquent; her impressions of blooms poignantly exploring themes of memory, perception and fragility, encourage viewers to closely engage with details that might otherwise go unnoticed. 

While deeply personal and complex, Raffaella hopes her works shed light on her experiences as a visually impaired artist, and aims to make her work accessible and relatable to all viewers.