To conclude the Flares In The Darkroom Exhibition featuring Helen Bermingham, Florence Carr, Lydia Hamlet, Hilda Kortei, Pia Ortuño, Mia Vallance, Courtenay Welcome and Meryl Yana, we invited art historian and lecturer Stephanie Dieckvoss to delve into the minds and thought processes of artists Pia Ortuño and Tami Soji-Akinyemi.

The artists discuss their practice, what impact they hope it has on the future, and the delicate balance between ownership and relinquishing control.

Stephanie Dieckvoss is a German art historian based in London with over 15 years experience in commercial art galleries and art fairs across Europe and the USA. She currently works as an independent lecturer, writer, researcher and journalist and specialises in contemporary art markets. She lectures at Central Saint Martins and Sotheby’s Institute of Art and as an academic she was also course director of the MA Art Business at Kingston School of Art from 2017 to 2021. 

Pia Ortuño (b.1996 San José) is a Costa Rican artist currently living and working in London. She graduated from the University of Costa Rica with a BA in fine arts (2019) and later moved to Pietrasanta, Italy to work and learn ancient marble and bronze techniques. She apprenticed under Jimenez Deredia in his Carrara studio an worked at the Fonderia Artistic Mariani (2020). She is the co-founder of Sala Salon (2021) and recently graduated from Painting at the RCA (2022). Ortuño has exhibited in the UK and internationally with her first solo show at Incubator Gallery in London.

Tami Soji-Akinyemi (b. 1991, London) is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in London. Following a BA in Fashion Design from University of Creative Arts, Epso (2014), she graduated from MA Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2022.