SACHA LEES

I swallowed it all until it soured. Then I painted the vomit gold. — Sacha Lees

Sacha Lees is a contemporary painter based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her materially driven painting practice interrogates and reimagines the weighted visual histories that have shaped ideals of womanhood. Processes of material transformation become raw acts of reclamation, through bodily imprinting onto reclaimed copper laminate and the displacement of painted measuring tapes.

Drawing on the dynamism 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 bodily 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 been commissioned for major public and private, and her work is held in private collections.