Studio Artist Romina Ienco. Photo: Supplied.
A creative connoisseur, ascertaining the power to showcase pure beauty through resilience and determination.
Born in Aprilla, in the province of Latina, Romina Ienco’s artistic journey stems from her upbringing in a home for girls where her passion for creating was awoken, opening her to a world of mediums and subjects to explore.
At just 19 years old, Ienco began navigating life outside her home, where survival and stability became the priority, putting her artistic pursuit on hold. Toxic relations burnt all her bridges in life, leaving Ienco completely alone in a state of depression, in need of emotional rescue and recovery.
At 23, Ienco found herself in the hands of three talented women who brought art to her as a lifeline, instilling foundational knowledge and assisting her in the search for her creative voice. From here, Ienco’s desire to master her craft led to extending her education. She refined her techniques across traditional portraiture and pigment creation before eventually closing her chapter in Rome and opening to the next in Australia.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
After reliving her hardship during the relocation, Ienco sourced a deeper level of education to improve her style as well as implement a healthy structure between her artistic and veterinary career pathways. Now her work sits within a space she describes as “abstract realism”, a fluid balance of representation and imagination that aims to evoke a sense of joy and wonder, inspiring her audience to reflect and appreciate the beauty around them and within them. Whether through luminous portraits or playful depictions of animals, Ienco’s artwork allows her audience to momentarily step into another dimension and experience the joy of light emerging through darkness.
Through her extensive schooling experience, Ienco learnt to let her works organically emerge from the canvas, utilising acrylic paint to sketch forms and colour before refining her subjects with oil paint, both transparent and opaque. This allows Ienco to build depth and compose life within her paintings as the cool and warm tones muster shadow and light, establishing her signature profound presence.
Ienco’s talent for composing beauty has granted her many achievements, ranging from exhibitions in Rome to awards in the Adelaide Royal Show, but Ienco explains that she finds the greatest satisfaction from watching her audience admire her work. During markets across the coastline, Ienco shares that her dream of pursuing art was affirmed through the reaction of awe to her painting, Lady Camila.
Lady Camila, Romina Ienco, oil on canvas, 46 x 46cm.
The delicate use of light and shadow showcases her talent using chiaroscuro, portraying Lady Camila through a lens that celebrates her inner divinity. Ienco’s attention to detail and refined techniques give this artwork the ability to transport audiences into an intimate, otherworldly moment, utilising abstract imagery to remind them of their own inner beauty.
After participating in The Mill’s 2025 LIMITLESS exhibition, Ienco decided to become a part of the studio community after falling in love with the sense of openness and creative energy.
“It feels like a space free of judgement… like I can do anything here.”
Working in a space surrounded by over 70 imaginative minds brings Ienco motivation and initiates a sense of belonging, fostering an environment that supports productivity and propels artistic freedom.
For Ienco, painting extends beyond a visual practice, becoming a therapeutic strategy to assist in processing and releasing the heavy grief involved within veterinary nursing as well as her personal emotions.
“Even if I’m exhausted, I need that one hour of painting… I don’t want to go to sleep carrying that weight.”
Her connection to art as a therapy inspired Ienco to think beyond the canvas and discover her life vision; to create a space that combines art, animals, and nature with the sole intention to help people heal. Ienco dreams to build ‘Mimi’s Domus’, a sanctuary named in honour of her upbringing that combines her practices and allows for those with trauma to connect with the compassionate care that helped transform her own life.
Looking ahead, in her upcoming exhibitions, Ienco’s intentions remain clear, holding a simple but powerful message.
To remind people of joy.
To reconnect them with beauty.
And to leave them with a feeling they may have forgotten they needed.
Words: Georgia Bowman
Artwork images: Romina Ienco