Ra Searle

Ra is a self-taught painter, sculptor, and performance artist from Cape Town, South Africa, currently based in Southeast Asia. Her work explores identity, selfhood, and the reclamation of power in a world shaped by patriarchal and colonial systems. Using the figure, Ra addresses emotional complexity and rebellion, challenging societal constraints placed on the body.

Drawing from personal experience, intuition, and connections to matriarchal storytelling, ecofeminism, and radical transformation, Ra creates art that envisions a more authentic reality. Her practice confronts the fractured sense of self and fractured world, using intuitive methods to push boundaries of form and content.
As a queer, neurodivergent woman, Ra has spent her life unboxing the prescribed narratives imposed on her. This ongoing exploration informs her work, which defies societal narratives around gender, queerness, and complacency. For Ra, hope is not about escape but about facing discomfort and dismantling the “everything-is-doomed-so-buckle-in” narrative.

Ra has exhibited at New House Gallery (Guildford, UK), The Commons (Muizenberg, SA), and curated and exhibited a solo show on Bree Street, Cape Town. She is also a women’s empowerment facilitator in the Red Tent Movement, offering safe spaces for women to connect and heal.