Photograph credit: Amber-Jayne Bain
Sacha Lees is a contemporary fine artist based in Pōneke, whose work critically examines how we treat each other and our environment, often sparking intimate and uncomfortable conversations around gendered hierarchies.
Integrating classical techniques, Lees portrays the internal struggle of the human experience, crafting a feminist bildungsroman that navigates the complexities of identity, body, and voice. Her exploration of war stories and ecological concerns reflects a deeply personal and political awakening. Lees’s art captures the evolution of a self in flux, striving toward a critical feminist identity—echoing the sentiment, “Feminists need to look inside themselves to see what tyrants reside there" (Dawson).
Her work, marked by residual corporeal anxiety and executed through 17th-century Baroque painting practices, portrays restrained forms that either submit or push back against the forces of consumer culture. Through her painterly depictions, Lees creates surreal tension—a push me/pull you mechanism sucking you down into Lees’ maestromic yearning for escape.
Lees received the prestigious Adam Portrait Award in 2020 and earned additional accolades in 2022. She studied the techniques of the Masters in Florence, Italy, and achieved First Class Honours in Master of Fine Arts at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa | Massey University in 2024.