BIO
Anika De Souza is a London-based abstract mixed media artist originally from Germany. With a background in graphic design and over a decade in the advertising industry, her practice centres on painting as a form of material and spatial inquiry.
Working with acrylic, graphite, oil stick, and dry media, De Souza builds layered compositions through mark-making that holds both discipline and instinct in tension. Central to her practice is a cut-out text technique — harvesting fragments from existing texts and embedding them within the painted surface to create concealed narrative elements. Language here is treated as material rather than message, dissolving into rhythm, texture, and spatial tension.
Her work explores the balance between articulation and silence, presence and absence, allowing space to function as an active element within the composition. She lives and works in Kingston Upon Thames.
De Souza has exhibited at The Other Art Fair, Kingston Open Artist Studios, The Circle Gallery, and TAP Gallery (Turner Art Perspective Gallery), and her work has been featured in Times and Leisure.
CV
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Studied Graphic Design with a focus on Calligraphy, which laid the foundation for her ongoing exploration of language, form, and material. Worked in advertising before becoming self-employed as a Photographer and Calligrapher while raising a family. This continuous creative practice evolved naturally into her current work, which bridges calligraphy, abstraction, and material experimentation.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 The Circle Gallery, Sunninghill
2025 TAP Gallery, Essex
2025 KAOS (Kingston Open Art Studios), The Rose Theatre
2025 The Circle Gallery, Sunninghill
2024 KAOS (Kingston Open Art Studios), The Rose Theatre
OPEN ART STUDIOS & ART FAIRS
2026 Affordable Art Fair, May, London
2025 The Other Art Fair, October, London
2025 Kingston Open Art Studios, Kingston Upon Thames
2025 The Other Art Fair, March, London
2024 The Other Art Fair, October, London
2024 Kingston Open Art Studios, Kingston Upon Thames
2023 Kingston Open Art Studios, Kingston Upon Thames
2022 Kingston Open Art Studios, Kingston Upon Thames
Publications & Bibliography
2024 Time and Leisure — KAOS Returns
2023 Yearbook of lettering #1, Slanted Publisher UG, Karlsruhe, Germany
2023 Typism Book nine, Finesse Press 2022, Sydney, Australia
2022 Typism, Book eight, Finesse Press 2022, Sydney, Australia
2020 The Calligraphy Ideas Book, Alison Starling Publisher, Lyndsey Gribble, Toronto, Canada