SAMERE TANSLEY was born in the U.K. and trained extensively as a painter in English art schools. She began her studies at Stourbridge College of Art, graduating from Birmingham College of Art, and later pursued postgraduate studies at Central School of Art and Goldsmiths College in London before making Jamaica her home in 1970.

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For forty years, Tansley has embraced and influenced creative expression and art education through her dedication to teaching, first at the secondary-school level and later at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Although the Jamaican environment is an important source of inspiration for her work, and her iconic paintings of Jamaican women have secured a lasting place in popular culture, Tansley’s imagery reflects a wide range of influences and sources, including mythology, feminism, nature, figuration, and the constructed realities conveyed through still life.