Deborah Rainsford

Deborah is a Chichester-based visual artist working primarily with paint and print. She views art as a catalyst for emotion and thought, aiming to spark both conversation and connection through her work. Her practice is deeply rooted in personal experience and exploration. With a background in the travel industry, Deborah has embraced adventure and interaction with the wider world, which continues to inform her creative process.
Each piece begins with a memory or dream, evolving through the interplay of materials, music, and intuition, often resulting in abstract compositions that invite reflection and connection. Her paintings resonate with layered colour, texture, and mark-making. This process-led approach reflects how memory accumulates, disintegrates, and fades, offering a cathartic exploration of one's inner world. “I feel the process of memory construction, and the loss of it, especially after trauma, impacts our sense of identity.” Since graduating with a BA in Fine Art from the University of Chichester, Deborah has exhibited several times at the Oxmarket Gallery in Chichester, as well as at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth and Gallery Grounds in Southampton.