Dione Roach was born in Italy in 1989. She studied Fine Arts at the University of East London, graduating in 2012. Since then, she has developed a multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, filmmaking, photography, and community-based art projects, living and working between Europe and Africa.
Dione’s work is divided into two parallel but interconnected practices.
On one side, she works primarily as a painter, exploring themes of identity, intimacy, and social interaction in the contemporary world. Her paintings often emerge from close personal environments and relationships, using human connection as instruments through which to investigate the emotional and psychological conditions of contemporary life. Her subjects exist at times through the mediated space of screens and smartphones, and at others within stripped-back, timeless, and intimate settings where vulnerability and proximity become central.
Alongside her studio practice, Dione has developed a long-term commitment to socially engaged art, filmmaking, and activism. Since 2017 she has been based in Cameroon, where she co-founded and directs the platform Jail Time Records, an artistic and social initiative working through music, film, and community engagement in prisons. Through this work she collaborates with local artists, young people, and marginalized communities, creating projects that intersect culture, activism, and collective empowerment.
Alongside her work in Cameroon, she has participated in social and community art projects across Africa, South America, and with refugee communities in Italy.