Inside Christine Roychowdhury’s PaintingsThat Reveal Untold Stories of Women

Christine Roychowdhury is a talented artist whose work deeply explores the lives, relationships, and often-overlooked stories of women.

In this interview on our Arts to Hearts Project, she discusses how her working-class background and close relationship with her mother shaped her art. She shares how her paintings, often large-scale oil works, focus on emotions, the struggles of everyday people, and the complex bond between mothers and daughters. Christine also opens up about her experiences being shortlisted for major art awards and what it’s been like to paint for shows like Sky Portrait Artist of the Year.

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Christine Roychowdhury studied art at Goldsmith’s College London in the 1980s, and this greatly influenced her approach to art and her belief that art should work on both a visual and intellectual basis as well as an emotional one. She was born in Lancashire and brought up in a working-class family, and as a woman, she came to art from that point. She looks at art as something that is not normally regarded as important and has slipped through the cracks of history, which has been predominantly dominated by male points of view. She looks at I look at how relationships between mothers and daughters work both as a power struggle and support. How women are viewed in society and at work. She has exhibited in several galleries, including the Manchester City Galley, Salford Gallery and Aberdeen Art Gallery.

She has exhibited in the Scottish Portrait Awards 2018/19 and in 2020/2021, and two works were selected. “This Is Going to Hurt” and “Artist and Mother” She has taken part in the Sky Portrait Artist, where she painted Doreen Mantel and appeared in BBC Northwest. She works mainly in oils on Canvas with some mixed media. She produces predominantly large-scale paintings that look at viewpoints and figures that frequently feature within her work. She has been shortlisted x4 for the BP Portrait Exhibition and x2 for the Herbert Smith Freehills Award and the John Moores Liverpool. Open Studios Northeast NEOS 2018 – 2021. Open Studios Suffolk 2023. She has had work published in an international art ‘Art Talks’ magazine, including an essay, Rivers of Blood. She was shortlisted for the Theo Paphitus Art Prize and had her work Living the Dream exhibited at the London Graphic Centre in Covent Garden in 2022.

She took part in the Welsh 45 Group collaborative from 2021 to 2023, included within the associated book ‘ At Cross Purposes’ and exhibitions in Cardiff, the Elysium Gallery Swansea, The Oriel Mon, Anglesy and the Queen St Gallery in Belfast. In 2023, she was also an exhibitor at the Finding Space Exhibition in Ealing, London, with the SWA in the Mall Galleries. She also had three pieces included in the first and succeeding summer Women in Art Fair at the Mall Galleries 2023 and 2024. She was elected an ASWA in 2024.

1.  Your work often explores the overlooked stories of women in history and everyday life. What draws you to these narratives, and how do they shape your paintings?  

I was brought up in Lancashire within a working-class family. My mother was a school cook, and I was surrounded by strong working-class women whose presence within society was often ignored by people in power. although, at the time, I thought that equality was just around the corner, how could it not be? Women haven’t gained equality of value within society economically or socially. Women statistically, 1in 4 sexually assaulted aren’t equally represented, and even in galleries, only 2 per cent of the work is by women, and this is accepted assuming complaints are merely a feminist construct. I wanted to represent women and give importance to their stories as an invisible workforce and population.

I wanted to represent women and give importance to their stories as an invisible workforce and population.

Christine Roychowdhury

2. As someone from a working-class background, how has your upbringing influenced your perspective on art and the themes you choose to explore?

Being from a working-class background allows you insight into a different world than that which is normally found within artworks, which tend to be from an upper-class, middle-class point of view; the role of a dinner Lady, a shop worker, and the carer is seen from the inside. The relationships between the people within that situation and the emotive value of the scene, which I regard as essential to show universal humanity.Sometimes, the sheer depth of desperation and loneliness of a person sitting at the new chippy and the need for the humanity of the chat from the waitress.

3.  Mother-daughter relationships play a key role in your work. What fascinates you most about this dynamic, and how do you translate it onto the canvas?  

I was very close to my mother, who came to live with me for the last two years of her life, dying this year at Christmas, during which time we went to hell and back and also shared the closest of times. She was the closest supporter of my artwork, and seeing the narrative of her life, I saw the universal. I saw ageism and the treatment of the elderly, which made me want to paint. I saw the loneliness of isolation, which is uncontrollable bystanders as we get on with our own lives and slowly, their lives close in. My mother was a great model and always willing to sit even when woken up in the early morning hours for photographs to be taken. Our close relationship reflected that of many, and in particular, it reflected the many. Love, support, anger, and rivalry are relationships that are never simple and always evolving.

4.    You’ve been shortlisted multiple times for prestigious portrait competitions. What do you think makes a portrait powerful and memorable?  

A portrait needs to first work visually. The composition has to balance or deliberately not, and the colour has to jump. The painting’s emotive qualities should engage the viewer with empathy. The intellect has to be engaged, as a painting without an idea can simply be a likeness and not tell a whole or particular story.

Sometimes, the sheer depth of desperation and loneliness of a person sitting at the new chippy and the need for the humanity of the chat from the waitress.

Christine Roychowdhury

5.   You’ve painted for Sky Portrait Artist of the Year and exhibited in major galleries. How have these experiences shaped your creative journey?   

The Sky Portrait Artist of the Year was entered in the spirit of what the heck! What can go Wrong!! And it was a great experience. I’d never seen the programme and wasn’t certain I’d be able to paint a four-hour piece. I practised by painting a 4-hour study of my mother on my way down from Aberdeen to London. My previous painting style was one that took many hours to complete. The experience allowed my style to evolve. My being accepted into major galleries gives me feedback and encouragement that art is able to communicate and connect with others, that the message within is able to reach a wider audience, and that the self-indulgence of creating the work and its cathartic nature is a catalyst for others. The story of life is universal. It has also given me access to meeting other artists with whom I am able to talk about my art and not be bored.

6. Your large-scale oil paintings often depict figures and viewpoints. What do you hope viewers take away from your compositions?  

I paint large-scale so that the viewer can fully experience being surrounded by it and walking into the painting. The multiple viewpoints engage the viewer even more physically, making them turn their heads as they would in reality and encouraging thoughts.

Christine Roychowdhury’s art is all about telling stories that often go unnoticed. By focusing on the emotions and experiences of women and family relationships, she invites viewers to connect with deeper truths about life. Her paintings show that art is more than just a visual experience—it’s a way to start conversations about identity, equality, and the things that matter most. To learn more about Christine, click the following links to visit her profile.

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