MARGARITA GODGELF

Margarita Godgelf is a contemporary artist based in the UK. Her art focuses on resilience as something malleable–able to bend, twist, and crumple like an old receipt; altered, but still intact. Her work looks at how people break, adapt, and reinvent themselves under the pressures of life. Drawing inspiration from the dramatic light and shadow of the Delft School and Caravaggio, she creates spaces where the fragile persistence of humanity can be seen.  Her figures are often in moments of change- bathed in a soft, sacred-like light. Godgelf’s body of work portrays resilience as a quiet, continuous negotiation with fate. For her, resilience is absurd, noble, and exhausting — but most importantly, it is art.

Godgelf learned early on that survival often meant changing herself — blending in, breaking the rules, or escaping them altogether to navigate gender inequality. It helped shape her interest in the quiet rebellions we carry within us, using her paintings to create spaces where the fragility of humanity can be appreciated.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, she studied at the Moscow Academic Art School as well as completing courses at the Institute of Contemporary Art Moscow and the British Higher School of Design (Moscow). More recently, she has developed her expertise in fresco technology through study in  Montenegro. Godgelf’s current work spans fine art, graphic design, book illustration, as well as church painting. Her pieces are held in the collections of Kolodzei Art Foundation (USA), Museum of Russian Art (USA), and private collections in the UK, USA, and Canada.