Elisa Margot Winters
Elisa Margot Winters (2000) is an Estonian/American artist and is currently based in Plymouth, United Kingdom. In her paintings, Winters’ interests lie in ancient traditions: alchemy, folklore, and other medieval symbols. Through mythology, she explores eternal themes of human existence, the darker aspects of femininity, and finds ways to express, transform, and purify her own soul. Her main technique is oil painting, but she also does monumental painting techniques — stained-glass and sgraffito. Her painting style is colorfully expressive and forceful, but precise where needed.
Affiliation: Independent Artsist
These underwater scenes are part of a developing series exploring submersion—plunging into the unknown and fading into murky depths. The figure exists in a liminal space, suspended between sinking and swimming, motion and stillness, life and loss. In this in-between state, time stretches, and meaning becomes fluid. It is a portrait of limbo, unresolved and unstable, where transformation begins without certainty.
The series draws from the European witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries, when the “swimming test” was used to judge innocence. Bound and thrown into a river, those who floated were condemned, while those who sank were declared innocent—often fatally. Survival was never assured, making water, a symbol of purity, into one of impossible judgment.
As the series has evolved, its focus has shifted inward, reflecting a period of personal transition. Like the figure, the artist found herself submerged in uncertainty, hoping to emerge transformed, yet fearing this descent might become a final resting place.