Ruby Waage Townsend
About
I am a UK-based artist whose practice spans figurative oil painting, performance, and immersive world building. Drawing on folklore, feminism, and working-class storytelling, I explore how myths are inherited, embodied, and rewritten, as well as how stories possess the capacity to both wound and heal.
Painting forms the foundation of my work, yet it seldom exists in isolation. Images develop through drawing, costume, set construction, and staged enactment before culminating in richly layered oil paintings that evoke both theatre and domestic fable. Figures transition between roles, temporal boundaries blur, and archetypes unravel. These paintings function as psychological stages, where identity remains unstable, performed, and subtly charged.
Folklore is central to my practice, serving as both a political and emotional language. I approach myth as a site of tension rather than comfort, where class, gender, power, and survival are actively negotiated. As a survivor of gender-based violence, I employ folklore to challenge binaries of good and evil, revealing the nuanced dynamics of coercion, obedience, and resilience. My work interrogates who is cast as the monster, who is expected to endure, and what unfolds when narratives resist tidy resolution.
Colour and theatricality temper the intensity of my work without diminishing its impact. Bright palettes, playful compositions, and moments of humour coexist with unease, inviting viewers before encouraging them to engage with discomfort. My paintings frequently adopt the logic of pop-up books or enchanted rooms—spaces that initially appear inviting but ultimately reveal deeper psychological dimensions.
In addition to my studio practice, I work extensively within public and community contexts. Through residencies, workshops, and site-responsive projects, I engage with local histories, shared memory, and collective storytelling. Recent projects include Love Letters to Ilkeston, a residency informed by regional folklore and community voices. I am currently completing an MFA in Painting at the Slade School of Fine Art and am based in London.
At its core, my work constitutes an act of reclamation: of stories, bodies, and voices. My practice honours what has been silenced, remains within the unresolved, and envisions futures where care, resistance, and myth are interwoven.
Biography
Ruby Waage Townsend (b.1996, Leicester, UK) is an interdisciplinary artist, world-weaver, fairytale writer & schildermanneke.
Working across painting, performance, installation, and myth, their practice treats painting as a performative act—one that conjures enchanted realism, unstable identities, and shifting power dynamics. Drawing on folklore, lived experience, and dark humour, Ruby creates immersive worlds where comedy and tragedy entwine, the beautiful brushes up against the grotesque, and fairytales are rewritten with prosthetic snouts and cabbage heads.
They are currently completing an MFA in Painting at The Slade School of Fine Art and graduated with a BA (Hons) Fine Art from De Montfort University in 2023. Ruby has undertaken residencies including AA2A at Loughborough University, Ilkeston Contemporary Arts, UK New Artists People, Place, Practice, and the CMR residency in Redruth, Cornwall.
Recent highlights include a commissioned portrait of Baroness Doreen Lawrence (2023) for De Montfort University. Their work is held in permanent and private collections including De Montfort University Board Room, Ilkeston Contemporary Arts, and Sir Peter Soulsby. They are a recipient of the Irving Wernick Scholarship and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant.
Alongside their studio practice, Ruby delivers workshops, curates exhibitions, and produces site responsive and community led projects with organisations including Ilkeston Contemporary Arts, UK New Artists, Soft Touch Arts, and Pedestrian. They are a member of the Working Class Creatives Database and live and work in London, UK.