Photograph credit: Amber-Jayne Bain
I swallowed it all until it soured. Then I painted the vomit gold. — Sacha Lees
Sacha Lees is a contemporary painter based in Pōneke, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her materially driven painting practice interrogates and reimagines the visual histories that have shaped ideals of womanhood. Through processes of material transformatiog, including bodily imprinting onto reclaimed copper and the displacement of painted measuring tapes, become acts of reclamation.
Drawing on the theatricality of the Baroque, Lees reclaims the pictorial language that has historically shaped ideals of womanhood. As curator and author Dr Kirsty Baker observes, "Lees distorts the representative frame that has long sought to contain and constrain women." The paintings resist resolution, their fragmented forms slipping beyond containment as inherited images begin to unravel. Through these works, Lees challenges the hierarchies of value that determine which bodies are elevated and which are marginalised.
Lees studied in New Zealand and Italy, completing a Master of Fine Arts with distinction at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa | Massey University in 2024. She has received national recognition, including the Adam Portrait Award in 2020 and further accolades in 2022 and 2026. She has undertaken major public and private commissions, and her work is held in private collections.
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