Anima — Occupying Space: Helen Masacz solo exhibition
22–29 October 2026 · Zebra One Gallery, 73a Hampstead High Street, London NW3 1QX
This October, Zebra One Gallery presents Anima — Occupying Space, a solo exhibition by British painter Helen Masacz — a compelling new body of figurative oil paintings exploring identity, presence and the psychological spaces we inhabit.
Running from 22 to 29 October 2026, the exhibition marks a significant new chapter in Masacz's practice. Working through symbolism, narrative and the human figure, Anima — Occupying Space considers the complex relationship between the internal self and the world around us.
At the heart of the exhibition is the idea of anima — Carl Jung's term for the inner, often hidden dimension of the psyche. Masacz uses painting as a way of entering that internal landscape, creating works in which the physical environment becomes inseparable from the emotional and psychological state of the figures within it.
The result is a series that is both intimate and quietly unsettling. Her subjects appear caught between states: between vulnerability and strength, stillness and resistance, exposure and concealment. The paintings ask us to consider not simply who we are, but how we occupy space — physically, emotionally and psychologically.
Between the maternal and the defiant
Masacz's new paintings are shaped by a series of opposing forces. The maternal meets the defiant; the sacred encounters the rebellious; tenderness sits alongside confrontation. These dualities give the work its tension.
Rather than presenting the figure as a straightforward portrait subject, Masacz uses the body, gesture, setting and objects within the composition as symbolic elements. Her paintings can feel like fragments of a larger narrative — moments suspended in time where something has happened, or is about to happen, but remains deliberately unresolved.
There is also a recurring tension between what is revealed and what remains hidden. Faces, bodies and spaces become sites of concealment as much as revelation. Light draws attention to certain details while allowing others to retreat into shadow, creating paintings that reward prolonged looking.
Masacz's command of oil paint is central to this experience. Her handling of light, texture and surface gives the paintings a physical presence, while her restrained narratives allow the viewer to bring their own interpretation to each work.
A painter concerned with the human condition
Masacz has built her practice around the human condition, using figurative painting to explore transition, relationships, memory, identity and the passage of time. Her work combines a classical understanding of the painted figure with a contemporary psychological sensibility.
Based in West Sussex, Masacz studied Fine Art at university before undertaking intensive classical Atelier training in London. Her career has included exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery — where her work was selected for the BP Portrait Award on two occasions — as well as repeated appearances with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at Mall Galleries.
Her achievements include the Arts Club Award from the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, alongside recognition in the Women in Art Prize, where she won the Riverstone Living Prize in 2025 for a solo exhibition. Her work is held in both private and public collections, including Mansfield College, Oxford University.
Occupying space
The title Anima — Occupying Space is deliberately open-ended. To occupy space is to be visible, to assert a presence, to belong. But it can also mean negotiating the boundaries imposed upon us — deciding when to step forward and when to withdraw.
For Masacz, the painted figure becomes a vehicle for these questions. Her subjects do not simply inhabit the spaces depicted around them; they appear to alter those spaces through their presence. Interiors become psychological landscapes, while objects, gestures and fragments of the surrounding environment take on symbolic weight.
There is a quiet strength in this approach. Nothing needs to be explained completely. Instead, Masacz allows ambiguity to remain part of the work. In an age of constant visibility, Anima — Occupying Space is interested in something more complicated: the difference between being seen and being truly revealed.
Helen Masacz at Zebra One Gallery
For Zebra One Gallery, the exhibition represents an opportunity to present a contemporary painter whose practice sits comfortably within the gallery's long-standing engagement with significant figurative and contemporary art. Established in Hampstead in 1976, Zebra One Gallery enters its 50th year in 2026, with a programme spanning contemporary art, photography, prints and painting.
Anima — Occupying Space continues that programme with a body of work deeply rooted in the tradition of figurative painting while addressing questions that feel distinctly contemporary. Helen Masacz's paintings invite us to slow down and look closely. They do not offer easy answers. Instead, they occupy the space between the personal and the universal — between the person depicted and the person looking.
Anima — Occupying Space
Helen Masacz
22–29 October 2026
Zebra One Gallery, 73a Hampstead High Street, Hampstead, London NW3 1QX
For further information about the exhibition and available works, please contact Zebra One Gallery.
