Ruth Ancilleri

Ruth Ancilleri is a visual artist, illustrator and fine arts lecturer and is based on the island of Malta. In 2007, she read for a Master’s degree in Visual Arts at the Libera Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence and in 2018 concluded her second Master’s degree in Illustration (Visual Communication) at the University of Hertfordshire.

 In 2008 she had the opportunity to work as a Junior Draughtsperson and Illustrator on the Alejandro Amenábar film Agora, gaining expertise and confidence in the creative industry.

Throughout the years Ruth has collaborated with other artists and designers on various artistic ventures, events, exhibitions, and independent projects including working as a freelance illustrator for the Malta National Book Festival.

She currently holds the post of senior lecturer in Fine Arts at the MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts in Malta where she has been lecturing for the past fourteen years.

For the past few years, she has been working on a body of work inspired by local indigenous plants and other tropical species. Her research seeks to find out more about the otherwise forgotten uses of Maltese plants, as well as investigates their use throughout history as remedies and other ritual purposes.

Ruth uses innovative and contemporary elements and practices and her overall approach to botanical drawing is fresh and lyrical, that creates a dialogue between the past, present and future. Her method involves traditional as well as digital processes. She uses a system where pencil drawings are transferred digitally onto several transparent layers and later merged as one artwork. This method enables her to communicate the physical and spiritual physiology of the chosen plants in an individual and unusual approach. The resulting images are imbued with sensual and feminine qualities which in turn are also a reflection of Ruth’s own identity, both as an artist as well as an individual.