Artist Profile

Gio Botto is a painter from Oxfordshire and a BA Fine Art graduate of Arts University Bournemouth (2026). Her practice investigates the relationship between boxing and painting, examining the physical, historical, and symbolic connections between combat and artistic expression. Drawing on references that span from prehistoric cave paintings to classical compositions and historical pigments, she situates contemporary painting within a broader lineage of image-making and human ritual. Through this dialogue between athletic performance and painterly gesture, her work explores themes of endurance, conflict, memory, and the enduring cultural significance of combat. In 2026, she was nominated for the New Blood Art Emerging Art Prize.