A Twickenham artist has had her painting selected for one of the UK’s leading small-scale exhibitions at the Mall Galleries in the City of Westminster.
Agnieszka Lokaj is a Twickenham based artist whose painting titled Ebbs was personally chosen for the Discerning Eye exhibition 2026 by an esteemed panel including Financial Times art market columnist Mel Gerlis and arts champion Hugh Bonneville.
The Discerning Eye showcases smaller sized work in any media and the 2026 exhibition has been curated by six independent selectors.
Ebbs was chosen from a pool of almost 7000 entries and Agnieszka’s work will sit alongside around 750 other pieces from 550 different artists.
She said: “This wasn’t the first time I submitted my art. I submitted a few years ago but you know that’s the journey of an artist, so this year I thought I’d try something new.
”This is the most prestigious exhibition I’ve ever been accepted into, so I’m really looking forward to taking part.
”I’ve been really privileged to be accepted.”
Her painting was inspired by the River Thames, and she said she saw meaning in the way the tide moves back and forth, hiding and then revealing items on the shore mimics how people conceal their true selves from others.
Agnieszka uses mixed media to create her work, experimenting with textures. Ebbs uses inks to represent the water flowing and coffee granules to show the land.
The artwork is part of a collection inspired by the blue mind theory which suggests that people naturally feel calmer next to rivers or the sea providing a meditative experience.
This was a new artistic process for Agnieszka, using materials she hadn’t tried before like the coffee granules.
She said: “Sometimes I just feel like experimenting, I said wouldn’t it be fun to experiment and try something new.
”As an artist you need to push boundaries and challenge yourself.”
Alongside her piece being selected, Agnieszka has been awarded an Arts Council England Develop Your Creative Practice grant, her second ACE grant in two years.
Her first was used to create the project Touchlines of Fortitude, a collection celebrating female resilience looking at the women’s rugby World Cup and drawing on her experience becoming an artist.
Agnieszka’s artistic journey started in secondary school when she fell in love with the subject but was unable to pursue it.
After 20 years in technology, she began to create again using art as a form of expression.
She said: “I just needed an escape, art was my escape.”
She went to classes at Richmond College but started to properly develop her craft during lockdown and again after moving on from work, taking a leap and submitting work to Sky’s Landscape Artist of the Year programme.
She was selected which gave her the confidence to start applying for other exhibitions and courses furthering her career.
Now she has curated four exhibitions, received two Arts Council England grants, exhibited with the Landmark Arts Centre, the Royal Birmingham Society of Arts, has donated to Heart Research‘s HeART Project charity auction 2026 and been shortlisted for the VAA ART100 international 2026.
Agnieszka said: “You need to practice and keep applying for things. I got rejected for lots of things. If you develop your art and practice that pushes you.
“I’m really shocked with how my journey progressed but I’m so grateful.
“It just shows that anybody can start if you have passion about something and you love it.”
The Discerning Eye exhibition is free and takes place at the Mall Galleries in the City of Westminster from November 13-21.
Featured image credit: Agnieszka Lokaj
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