RHEA DILLON
b. 1996, United KingdomRhea Dillon is a London-based artist whose sculptural and conceptual art practice has captured international attention for its poetic engagement with the formation of Caribbean and British identities. In 2025, Dillon was awarded the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel – Statements for her work Leaning Figures, a significant recognition that highlights her position as a leading voice in contemporary art.
Early Years
Born in London in 1996, Rhea Dillon grew up in the UK and continues to live and work in her home city. She completed her BFA at Central Saint Martins, London, in 2019. Dillon’s Jamaican heritage and family history, particularly her grandmother’s experiences as part of the Windrush generation, have been central to her exploration of diasporic identity and material culture.
Rhea Dillon Artworks
Dillon’s artworks traverse sculpture, installation, painting, writing, film, and performance. Her practice is distinguished by its investigation of material and colonial histories, Black feminist epistemologies, and the everyday objects that shape cultural memory. Dillon’s approach is both poetic and analytical, often using the domestic and the familiar as entry points into broader questions of history and identity.
Leaning Figures (2025)
Awarded the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel – Statements, Leaning Figures extends and abstracts the Caribbean domestic dinnerware cabinet and the museological vitrine. Wall-based vitrines made of sapele mahogany and glass house replicated cut-crystal plates, cast in resin with molasses or Jamaican soil. These works evoke the movement of Black bodies across water, with the plates symbolising both boat and casket, and portray Black bodies at rest.
An Alterable Terrain (2023)
Dillon’s first institutional solo exhibition, An Alterable Terrain, was held at Tate Britain as part of the Art Now series. The exhibition brought together new and existing sculptures as a conceptual fragmentation of a Black woman’s body, referencing eyes, hands, feet, mouth, soul, reproductive organs, and lungs. The works examined the foundational role of Black women’s labour in the British Empire and were accompanied by a catalogue published by Tate Publishing.
Nonbody Nonthing No Thing (2021)
Developed during Dillon’s residency at V.O. Curations, London, this solo exhibition used found objects, including bus seats, to reflect on the Windrush Generation and themes of movement, displacement, and belonging.
Other Notable Works
Dillon’s practice also includes performance, such as Catgut – The Opera presented at the Serpentine Pavilion’s Park Nights (2021), and poetic writing, which often accompanies her visual works.
Select Awards and Accolades
- Baloise Art Prize, Art Basel – Statements, 2025
Exhibitions
Rhea Dillon has been the subject of both solo exhibitions and group exhibitions at important art spaces. Below is a selection of important exhibitions.
Solo Exhibitions
- Gestural Poethics, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, 2025
- Fractal Being, Cordova, Barcelona, 2024
- Gestural Poetics, Soft Opening at Paul Soto, Los Angeles, 2024
- The Black Fold, Kevin Space, Vienna, 2023
- An Alterable Terrain, Tate Britain, London, 2023
- We looked for eyes creased with concern, but saw only veils, Sweetwater, Berlin, 2023
- The Sombre Majesty (or, on being the pronounced dead), Soft Opening, London, 2022
- Nonbody Nonthing No Thing, V.O. Curations, London, 2021
Group Exhibitions
- On Collecting, Growth and Excess, Second Sequence, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, 2025
- Each now, is the time, the space, Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, 2024
- Berggruen Arts & Culture in Partnership with The Kitchen, Fondamenta Diedo, Venice, 2024
- Real Corporeal, Gladstone Gallery, New York, 2022
- Love, Bold Tendencies, London, 2022
More Reading
Dillon’s work and exhibitions have been discussed in Flash Art, Art in America, FAD Magazine, and The Art Newspaper, among others.
- Flash Art: “Rhea Dillon: Viewing Altered Grounds”
- Art in America: New Talent – Rhea Dillon
- FAD Magazine: Rhea Dillon awarded the Baloise Art Prize
- The Art Newspaper: Sculptural works by emerging artists win Baloise Art Prize
Rhea Dillon FAQs
Where can I see Rhea Dillon’s work?
Rhea Dillon’s works are held in the public collections of the Tate Collection, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; and the Arts Council Collection, UK. Her artworks are also exhibited internationally at galleries such as Soft Opening, London; Cordova, Barcelona; and Gladstone Gallery, New York.
What is Rhea Dillon best known for?
Rhea Dillon is best known for her sculptural installations that examine Caribbean and British identities through material culture, and for her award-winning presentation Leaning Figures at Art Basel – Statements, which earned her the Baloise Art Prize in 2025.
Which galleries represent Rhea Dillon?
Rhea Dillon has exhibited with Soft Opening, London, and has had projects with Cordova, Barcelona, and Gladstone Gallery, New York.
What are some key themes in Rhea Dillon’s art?
Key themes in Dillon’s art include the legacy of colonialism, Black feminist thought, material histories, and the everyday objects that shape diasporic identity.
Has Rhea Dillon published any books?
Yes, Rhea Dillon’s exhibition An Alterable Terrain at Tate Britain was accompanied by a book published by Tate Publishing, featuring her poetry and essays.
Are there any random and interesting facts about Rhea Dillon?
Rhea Dillon’s practice also includes olfaction, and she has created works involving scent as well as performance and poetry. Her family’s history, particularly her grandmother’s Caribbean heritage, is a recurring influence in her work.
How do you pronounce Rhea Dillon’s name?
Rhea Dillon is pronounced ‘Ray-uh Dillon’.
Ocula | 2025
Explore and Follow Artists Shaping Contemporary Art
A respected voice in contemporary art discourse.
Focusing on ambitious storytelling and insightful art-world commentary. Ocula Magazine publishes in-depth interviews, critical essays and timely analysis on the artists, exhibitions and ideas driving the global art world.
Learn more about Ocula Magazine
Showcasing the best of the art world.
Ocula partners with galleries from around the world to highlight their artists, artworks and exhibitions. Gallery membership is by application and invitation, with each member vetted by an independent panel.
Learn more about Ocula Membership
Specialises in the sale of major artworks.
Led by a team with deep ties to the world’s leading auction houses, galleries and collectors. Ocula’s advisory team offers bespoke services to high-net-worth clients from around the world who are looking to acquire the best of contemporary and modern art.
Learn more about our team and services