Leonora Trafford
Within a Flower
11th-20th September 2026
56 Dawes Road, SW6 7EJ
Nick Skipp is excited to present for the first time a selection of works on paper by Leonora Trafford (1974-2024). Since her tragic death in 2024, Nick Skipp Fine Art has had the honour of preserving her artistic legacy and we are delighted to begin with her first solo exhibition in London.
Trafford's practice was inspired by the shapes, colours and experiences of the natural world. Responding to flora and the landscape, she creates a visual world of nature that lies between figuration and abstraction; recognisable forms appear amongst layered, abstracted patterns.
Each work in this exhibition is constructed from delicate papers the artist collected and fragments cut from previous watercolours, which are painted, cut and stitched with fine cotton thread onto softly coloured supports. In their jewel-like scale and fragility, these "paper flowers" offer small, shifting constellations of form in which the viewer may find their own narrative. Each work is mounted on a page from a small notebook, echoing the intimacy of a diary. Trafford's approach shows a Shinto-ist appreciation of the natural world: inventing shapes within and without the recognised forms of a flower head, moving beyond a mere botanical study or representational depiction. Discrete personalities emerge within her variations of arrangement and balance: some sparse and ethereal, some dense and intricate, others dynamic and expressive.
Alongside Trafford's work, we are delighted to have flower arrangements by Olga Skavos in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition. These will be created in response to the artist's work and will be in dialogue with the artist's deeply felt but ultimately modern take on the natural world.
Leonora Trafford was born in London in 1974 and was a graduate of Chelsea College of Art in London and Newcastle University's School of Fine Art. She lived in London and later Oxfordshire and passed away in 2024.
The exhibition is open daily 11am-7pm from Friday 11th to Sunday 20th September.
Our Vernissage is on Saturday 12th September, 2-8pm. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
For further information, please contact Nick Skipp
Tel./ Whatsapp +44 (0)7383 546138
or via our website www.nickskipp.com