Summer Exhibition Royal Academy of Art 2026

Croatian Champion ( Marija Malenica)’, oil on canvas, 120 x 130 cm

Delighted to have been invited to show ‘Croatian Champion ( Marija Malenica)’, oil on canvas, 120 x 130 cm at the Royal Academy . Summer Exhibition 2026

16 June - 23 August 2026

Main Galleries | Burlington House 

The portrait of the 2 x world and European champion kickboxer confronts us with her confident gaze while her trainer wraps her hands.  The man beside Malenica may be her trainer but he is not the dominant figure: Head bowed, he assists her with her wraps, like a servant dressing his mistress. This is a relationship of mutual trust and respect, though foregrounding the external marks sustained in battle; Like a soldier returning to the field, Malenica’s injury around her eye is a fading but visible bruising, and does not deter her from re-entering the fray!  Given her status as a Champion, we don’t fear so much for this woman. And yet the spectre of self-defence resides in this work too; especially now, as we are in the grip of a pandemic of violence against women. (Research from the Femicide Census considers that a woman is killed once every three days in the UK) And, like her fellow fighters in the ‘Half-Naked’ series of female fighters Wendy Elia made some years ago, she fixes us with her gaze, daring us to take in her tattoos and that splayed hand with its red fingernails, that is capable of making a fist and wielding its power in multiple ways.

An unmissable summer celebration of art. 

The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy is a must-see. Year after year, it has occupied a special place in the collective imagination as a reflection of all that is exciting and essential in British and international art and architecture right now.

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