Yana Stajno is a writer and expressionist painter based in north London. She was born in Zimbabwe of Polish and French parents. She studied at Cape Town University where she became an anti-apartheid activist before moving to north London where she now lives. She has been drawing and painting for fifteen years and continues to work at the Royal Drawing School in Shoreditch. Yana works as a contemporary artist from her studio at the N22 Studios in Wood Green, north London and is part of the annual Crouch End Open Studios exhibition. Click please click here to see details of the next CEOS exhibition.
My inspiration for Lit Windows arrived when I was walking past the lit windows of the Barbican and other London buildings at night. I couldn't see what was going on behind the windows so my painting illustrates the results of my imagination.
'It is the moment before or just after something transformative has happened that interests me. I work initially from life, people, places, scenes I have witnessed. Sometimes the work remains a watercolour or a drawing. Often, I extend the subject into a big canvas in my North London studio. People seem to resonate with my work and my paintings are collected all over the world.'
Dr Anna Birch, artistic director of 'Fragments & Monuments.'
Yana's work in the community
Yana ran a free painting workshop in the old Post Office, Woodgreen, London. Below is a short video about the participants showing their work.
