Artist Bio - Samantha Oliver

I create under the name The Dark Arts, working exclusively in black biro to explore the raw, often unspoken realities of the human condition. My work focuses on chronic illness, mental health, trauma, and survival translating these experiences into detailed, high contrast and symbolic drawings.

Much of what I create is shaped by real life experiences. I’m autistic and have ADHD which influences how I see, process, and experience the world around me. My work often reflects that intensity through detail, repetition, and layered imagery.

I’ve seen my mum go through breast cancer and survive, my little brother passed away from cancer when he was just three years old and I’ve grown up around the reality of type 2 diabetes. I’ve lost friends to both suicide and medical conditions. I’ve experienced the emotional weight of losing people I loved to mental health, not through death, but through distance and disconnection.

I’ve also faced my own struggles with mental health in the past, which has given me a deeper understanding of the thoughts and internal battles that many people live with but rarely speak about.

These experiences shape how I draw. I use fragmentation, distortion, and multiple forms within a single figure to represent what it feels like when the mind or body isn’t functioning as it should. My aim isn’t to glorify suffering, but to acknowledge it, make it visible, and create space for understanding.

Alongside my art, I work in sports massage therapy and am connected to suicide prevention work, which continues to shape both my perspective and my purpose.

Through my work, I want people to feel seen, understood, and less alone especially in the parts of life that are hardest to talk about. You are all enough, you are all amazing, unique, beautiful, stronger than you will ever know.

Be kind to yourself and give yourself that much needed love in your life, you don't need anyone else's validation. The strongest love you will ever have is the love you have for yourself. Also never be afraid to seek therapy.