“If you can imagine, we worked on the show during the restrictions of the cold long lockdown months, so I never got to actually meet Abigail until just before the show opened,” Prempeh says. “But through ongoing telephone conversations and sharing about her work, ideas and influences she really inspired me about that purity of creativity, which all too often gets forgotten.

“Watching people engage with her work during the exhibition was spellbinding – her dexterity with brushstrokes provides that sense of heavy emotion and intimacy that captivates and transports audiences to their own memories and collections.”

McGinley is currently studying at the Slade School of Fine Art and explores intimate themes of sapphism, the self and interpersonal relationships, through her paintings, layered imagery and symbolic undertones – she cites Edvard Munch and Francesco Clemente as influences.

Each painting is an extension of her personhood as she uses her personal experiences and desires to guide the subject matter of the work itself. She also draws inspiration for imagery directly from Art Nouveau jewellery and furniture, referencing catalogue style books for both posing ideas and the decorative elements within her work.

Prempeh says, “Abigail McGinley is a pure artist. Her talent as a painter compels people to build a relationship with her work: we’ve all experienced love, and loss. I never ‘discovered’ Abigail, but through working with her, I often discover something about myself. And I’ve noticed this is the same for many that get the chance to engage with her work.

“She creates a sense of romance and intimacy, but this comes about through passion, drive and an experience of life and love that fills a canvas.”

McGinley will next be creating a series of paintings focusing on romantic intimacy between women. She says: “I’m interested in conveying the intimacy of touch through the bodily medium of oil paint, in fact it’s a driving force of the work. I think intimacy is something that runs throughout my work so it will be interesting to push this further and create more ambitious compositions.” She will also be involved in a group show headed by fellow Slade graduate Tuesday Kibet later this summer.