‘Woman under the sea’ is a large-scale work made for Stein’s solo exhibition ‘Wet Room’ at the De le Warr pavilion in 2022. A woman is submerged in a dreamlike and layered underwater scene. In her paintings Stein seeks to create ‘different levels of consciousness, so you can have infinite depths of pictorial space working together.’ Making this work she was thinking through psychoanalytical processes, corresponding to the processes of painting. Stein draws on the power and mystery of feminine qualities, using symbolism to explore a wide range of archetypes in depictions of goddesses and dolls. Psychologically charged works are informed by research but remain instinctive and personal — Stein paints to plunder her emotional experience.