Meet the Artist | Anna Liber Lewis (Spectral Interference)
- Eleni Doulgeraki
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Memory, colour, and instinct weave through the work of Anna Liber Lewis, where personal recollections and inherited histories blur into something less certain and more evocative. Following a period away from commercial exhibiting, the artist returns with a renewed perspective, reflecting on the slippages of memory, the impulses that continue to drive her practice, and the conditions that allow creativity to flourish.
Q1. If your work carries memory, what do you think it remembers that you’ve forgotten?
Anna: Ha! Great question. One of the paintings in this body of work is called The Orchard Remembers Itself. A collector recently asked me about the title. The title came to me via a visual memory – an image that seemed to be a childhood memory, that in adulthood I was not sure if it was my memory or something handed down to me via my parents or possibly my Ukrainian grandmother. I am curious about memory and painting and how it can slip. It’s hard to know where memories come from, how they were experienced? Your question makes me think about a quote from Marylin French’s The Women’s Room. That book made a big impression on me when I read it as a young single mum. I’m not sure if I’m getting it correct, but the quote I remember is ‘scar tissue has no feeling’. I’m not sure that’s true; maybe it has a dull itch….
Q2. Has something changed in your practice that made this body of work possible?
Q3. Is there something your work keeps returning to, even when you try to move away from it?
Anna: Another great question! I think I need to mull on this for some time. I think my work is truly evolving and growing with me. However, I continue to return to colour and a kind of compulsive force; some kind of reaction to something, be it an experience, an emotion, a person, a history. Once I finish a body of work I always want to change things up. Maybe I’m a rebel without a cause?
Q4. In your work, is it more about control—or letting go of control?
Q4. You made a conscious decision to step away from showing commercially for a period—what led to that, and what brought you back to exhibiting at Saatchi Gallery?
Anna: I was tired and worn out. I needed to listen to myself and build up some strength again. I needed to reframe what success looks like to me. The show at the Saatchi gallery was just good timing, a great location and something I was ready for. It wasn’t forced. I had the work and the stars aligned.
Q5: What does your working relationship with Hannah Payne Art allow you to do or explore more?
Anna: I have worked with Hannah for over 6 years and I have always enjoyed working with her. I trust her. I need to trust the people I work with. She is a great supporter of artists. She is a kind and generous person and I flourish best when I feel safe and supported.
Links for her work:
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