Bell lives and works in Magaliesburg and Johannesburg. She completed her BA (Hons) in Fine Arts, and an MAFA at the University of the Witwatersrand.

She became interested in art as an object of power, and initially explored this through clay, while her paintings remained rooted in the traditions of the West. However, an interest in African barbershop posters suggested a way of working with a poetic metaphor that moved outside the narrative and logical space that she had used in her paintings, such as Hand across water - barber shop poster IV.

"I combined this with unlocalised patches of collaged colour, and a juxtaposition of artefacts and personal symbols – a self-portrait with a flash of light on one side and a hand across a bowl. For me, the hand is suggestive of prayer and the bowl (usually filled with water) symbolises the earth."