Beverley-Jane Stewart is a narrative artist whose work explores immigration and the hidden challenges often masked by historical events. She reveals how the past shapes our understanding of today’s society, a theme central to her art. Her grandparents arrived in Britain from Romania and Poland in the early 1900s. Though second-generation British, Stewart embraced both British values and her Jewish-European heritage. Her early work, including British Jewish Life and The Romanian Story, focused on ethnicity, but her interests expanded to shared experiences across communities.

“We all are part of our own history, and the foundations of the past moulds the present.”

Guided by the question, “If I am only for myself, what am I?” (Hillel, 10 BC), she explored urban landscapes, particularly places of worship and docks—sites of migration and social change. Stewart highlights the immigrant struggle with displacement, cultural shifts, and stereotypes, drawing from her family history and teaching in London’s diverse schools.
Her art blends research with imagination, using sketchbooks, photography, and varied techniques like dyed canvas, etched wood, and mixed printmaking techniques. Stewart contrasts modernity with the past to express how personal and collective histories shape identity and cultural transformation.