Issa Salliander was born in Stockholm, Sweden, during the year of 1986. When she was in her early teens, Issa moved with her family to Oxford, England. Such a radical change of scenery was not easy for a young girl, but it was here that Salliander started to develop the creative side of her personality. Soon, she started attending classes at the City & Guilds of London Art School, where she completed her MFA in 2006. Armed with a vast knowledge of artistic expression she acquired during her studies, Salliander began her career as a painter after wrapping up the education segment of her life. By her own acknowledgement, Issa built the basis for her art on one simple sentence her teacher Paul Saville once said to her: White is never white. Salliander wished to somehow incorporate that statement throughout her work and ultimately managed to do so – as you will soon come to see. Before she was able to start, she needed to assemble an atelier from which she would be able to draw inspiration and encouragement. Issa obtained a semi-basement space she transformed into a unique workshop. She filled it with objects which stimulate her and dramatically lit that room with industrial skylights. The studio has extremely high ceilings, which came in handy when Salliander decided to work on her large-scale paintings.