Mercedes Balle

Mercedes Balle describes herself as a mixed-media artist and a 'painter without paint'. Her work explores our connection with and disconnection from the natural world, with a particular focus on the urban landscape of London.

Balle's Thames Banks series are a result of the artist’s extensive research into what she views as the material-essence of the city through explorations of London’s architecture and geology. The works are made using material drawn from the river itself - mud and algae - applied to  rough jute, a material with a long history of use for sandbags in flood defences. Incorporating organic materials into her work, Balle accepts their intrinsic nature which, with the passage of time, will continue to change and will eventually completely degrade.

Mercedes Balle is a recent graduate of the MFA in Sculpture at the Slade, where she was taught by Onya McCausland, amongst others. Recent solo exhibitions include Under Construction, Museu de Porreres, Majorca (2025) and London Guts, Stone Space, London (2024). She is based between London and Mallorca.