Dawn Fincham's work occupies a compelling space between memory, reinvention and visual storytelling. Drawing from vintage engravings, photography, old books, charity shop discoveries and extensive image archives, she builds richly layered compositions that feel at once nostalgic and sharply contemporary. Each work begins with fragments, collected, reimagined and carefully transformed into a new visual world.

Her process combines digital construction with hands-on intervention. Once printed onto canvas, the image is worked back into with acrylic, ink, glitter and mixed media, giving each piece a tactile, painterly presence. The result is a distinctive language of collage and surface, where historical imagery, cinematic figures and surreal landscapes converge in unexpected ways.

Narrative is central to Fincham's practice. Her compositions invite repeated looking, gradually revealing shifts in perspective, hidden details and quiet tensions beneath their decorative allure. Recent works draw on portraiture and Renaissance traditions, placing classical references into altered, intimate and often playful contexts. Figures appear as observers, guests or fragments of another time, inhabiting scenes that feel familiar yet intriguingly displaced.

Through this layering of past and present, Fincham creates images that are elegant, imaginative and visually seductive. Her work asks us to consider how memory is constructed, how images travel across time, and how found material can be reshaped into something deeply personal.

Dawn was awarded “Highly Commended Artist” in the VAA Artist of the Year Awards 2025.