Célia Rakotondrainy’s portraits don’t just depict identity—they deconstruct it. With thick, expressive brushstrokes, she builds and dismantles the human form, exploring how the self is constantly shifting, reshaped by memory, culture, and emotion.
Rooted in her French-Malagasy heritage, Rakotondrainy’s work fuses realism with surreal symbolism: water as transformation, flowers as cycles of change. Figures blur, multiply, and reorganize across the canvas—mirroring the fluid, often fragmented experience of mixed identity.
Storytelling is central. She collaborates closely with her subjects, weaving shared narratives into each piece. The result is raw, layered, and deeply human.
She’s shown internationally in notable galleries like UTA Artist Space in Atlanta, and at NADA and SWAB—earning recognition from Architectural Digest, The Washington Post, and Artnet’s artists to watch.
Rakotondrainy paints identity not as something fixed, but as something felt—fluid, fractured, and always in motion.
