Years of critical and creative fine art practice will culminate in the annual Graduate Show exhibition.
Work by artists who have studied our:
BA (Hons) Fine Art
Fine Art Diploma
FD Fine Art (Contemporary Portraiture)
Contemporary Portrait Diploma
FD FINE ART
(CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITURE)
CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT DIPLOMA
I have a longtime fascination with the sublime – to be immersed in the vastness of nature and breathe, to reconnect with the real, and to realize the insignificance of human time. These are all themes I want to explore in my work. My practice is rooted in this relationship between humans and nature, which I explore through different forms of art, such as video, photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and installation.
Working on this subject in the urban landscape of London, I realized how construction materials create a disconnection made by the layers and layers of human interventions that lie between me and the open expanse of nature. These construction materials have begun to symbolise this displacement for me. Furthermore, living at this time of climate emergency, I feel an urgency to use materials to create art in a way that is consistent with my concerns for the future of the planet. Therefore I use construction site materials to make art about nature; I transform discarded building materials into art that questions the problems of our economy in relation to the environment. To do that, I use these materials again and again, trying to squeeze all the possibilities that they have and confronting the single-use economy we live in.
SCAFFOLDING WINDOWS
This piece is an enclosed window. Made of discarded materials, it criticizes the throwaway society we live in and portrays our disconnection with the landscape. Windows are both our connection and disconnection point with the outside; through them we can see the moody and changing environment from the comfort and security of being indoors.
THE OPEN CAVE
This piece reflects our displacement within the environment. In concrete cities, the wild is difficult to find. The parks are tidy and thoughtfully planted, the river is contaminated and busy, and buildings prevent us from seeing the open sky. The projected video is lost through the different layers of the scaffolding, emphasizing the disconnection between us and the landscape.
SYNTHETIC WATERS
For this project, I used netting from scaffolding to build site-specific installations, creating unexpected and unsettling urban landscapes. I used the transparency of the netting to transform the strong man-made plastic, evoking uncontrollable water escaping from the cement city.
SOIL, FLOOR, SOIL, FLOOR
Asphalt, pavements, floors, shoes—many layers separate us from the natural. This piece showcases what lies underneath the floors we walk on. Tiles and asphalt don’t offer much life, but the layers underneath them do. Soil is full of nutrients and old seeds. To see something growing from them is just a matter of time.
FALLING SKY
This piece is made of discarded tiles onto which photos of the sky were transferred. It embodies a broken reflection of the sky. While the tiles represent the quantity of waste that is thrown into the landfill everyday, the images of the skies show our disconnection with the natural environment.
I sent the daily images to Charlotte Smith and she wrote a poem. In the video, she recites the poem while I present a video of the images aligning with her words.
The final piece presented in this show is a video of the projection of the video, which is also seen by the viewer through their screen for this online exhibition. This way of presenting purposely diminishes the quality of the video, thereby emphasizing the disconnection between us and the outside. It questions our own presence and reflects the fact of how little we have known during the lockdown of what was really happening outside our walls.
The Window Keeper
Video Charlotte Smith (words) & Mercedes Balle (images), Duration: 4 mins 23 secs, 2020
Most people see life as a happy chronological line with little setbacks that help you become a stronger and better person.
I see life as fragments dispersed in a chaotic order but all connected somehow to each other.
All lives are a long thread in what appears to be the hell that religious texts describe: an everlasting punishment, interspersed with happy moments, in which time is the sovereign of all things and for all people the same unknown end, death.
I have tried to reflect these fragile moments in time through my choices of materials and subject matter.
By depicting the human figure on raw breakable fragile surfaces, I have tried to show the fragility of life and it’s cruelty.
The delicacy in death and the pain that can be found through colours.
I have used different media depending on the stories I want to narrate: the medium changes to reflect the subject I am touching on to better express the meaning of the piece.
The work for me is seen as one, but to highlight the nature of these fragments, singular moments connected to each other, the pieces are individual, yet all together they form a whole.
The size of each moment is chosen in order for the viewer to get closer to the image, to see it properly.
This is intended to create intimacy between the viewer and the work, a connection which gives each story the opportunity to be listened to and watched purposefully, not just seen and heard.
@gloria_cavicchioli
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH’INTRATE 2.0
Measurements: 6,2 x 2,4 m
Most people see life as a happy chronological line with little setbacks that help you become a stronger and better person.
I see life as fragments dispersed in a chaotic order but all connected somehow to each other.
All lives are a long thread in what appears to be the hell that religious texts describe: an everlasting punishment, interspersed with happy moments, in which time is the sovereign of all things and for all people the same unknown end, death.
I have tried to reflect these fragile moments in time through my choices of materials and subject matter.
By depicting the human figure on raw breakable fragile surfaces, I have tried to show the fragility of life and it’s cruelty.
The delicacy in death and the pain that can be found through colours.
I have used different media depending on the stories I want to narrate: the medium changes to reflect the subject I am touching on to better express the meaning of the piece.
The work for me is seen as one, but to highlight the nature of these fragments, singular moments connected to each other, the pieces are individual, yet all together they form a whole.
The size of each moment is chosen in order for the viewer to get closer to the image, to see it properly.
This is intended to create intimacy between the viewer and the work, a connection which gives each story the opportunity to be listened to and watched purposefully, not just seen and heard.
@gloria_cavicchioli
“I like to make the unseen seen!”
I love rubbish!!! People don’t see the value of things that are thrown away or don’t look pretty. People don’t look underneath the surface to the mess that we all carry with us. However, because we don’t look at it, it builds up and builds up like a landfill.
There is so much potential in the unseen and my work is about making the unseen seen. The idea of unconditional love drives my work; the quest to understand states and emotions that are overlooked, acknowledge the beauty in the brokenness.
I like to exaggerate psychological states, explore and understand emotions deeply. I am inspired by encounters with people and the emotions they trigger in me becomes the material for my artwork, which is a mixture of sculpture, painting and performance.
My work is raw and physical because my longing is to make deep connections with people through my art. I chose materials that are tactile and invite the viewer to interact, engage with and touch the pieces.
When people look at my art, I hope they’ll be there in the moment, with me, just as viewers were when they experienced Louise Bourgeois ‘Towers’.
I have 4 maquettes, which are also finished pieces, and 2 large works.
MAQUETTE 1: The Truth Will Set You Free
Description: The river of peace flows out of the window of a jail
Wood and organza
Dimensions: H30cmx W30cmXD40cm
POA
MAQUETTE 2: Being Seen
Description: A weeping basket
Buff willow and silk
Dimensions:H47cm x W38cm xD65cm
POA
MAQUETTE 3: Matthew 7:13-14
Description: Doors to destruction and a door to life
Wood, expanding foam, acrylic paint, resin
Dimensions: H22cm x W41.5cm xD66cm
POA
MAQUETTE 4: The Choice (small version)
Description: Contrast between threatening figure and joyful shoes
Plaster, chicken wire, cotton, spray paint, faux leatherette , ribbon, foam
Dimensions: H5.5cm x W 5cm x D 9.5cm (shoes)
Dimensions: H 29cm x W 22cm x D 22cm (threatening figure)
POA
LARGE PIECE (1): THE CHOICE
Description: This work is an interactive piece to create an awkward space between the viewer and the objects. I am interested in how people respond to these 2 objects; do they choose to put on the shoes and walk away or not? What is the psychological response to this artwork?
Chicken wire, steel, cotton fabric, oil based paint, paverpol, foam, felt, rubber, thread, faux leatherette, ribbon, velcro, elastic
Dimensions: H 250cm x W 175cm x D 180cm (threatening figure)
Dimensions: H 18cm x W22cm x D 45cm (shoes)
POA
LARGE PIECE (2): THE GRIEF THAT NEVER WAS
Description: This piece, made out of buff willow, looks like it’s falling apart, on the brink of collapse and yet it’s still standing.
Buff willow, wool, fishing wire
Dimensions: H 137cm x W145cm x D 180cm
POA
My practice is multi-media ranging from painting to video pieces. I am interested in using technology for art making.
I have a passion for things which could be described as techno-fossils, obsolete objects that have now become a hidden or forgotten part of the fabric of the urban or rural landscape. My practice, a form of technological archaeology brings together research and making.
I use my technological knowledge, arising from a prior career in engineering, to investigate these techno-fossils and make artistic pieces based on my findings. This allows me to produce works which have a unique perspective of places or objects.
Aesthetically, I usually refer to modes of display or methods of information presentation which are redolent of the practice of engineering, for example laser scanning, CAD drawings and technological site processes.
Both of my show pieces reflect my interest in psychogeography but take differing approaches. In the case of “For the motorway people who have forgotten how to stop and stare” I have created an audio and visual installation which reflects on the “overlooked” status of a lovely brutalist footbridge over the M11 in Essex. The other piece “The Devil’s Porridge” responds to my walk through a techno-fossil landscape in Uplees, North Kent. In this piece my aim was to produce a visual representation of my practice.
Born in the Isle of Man in 1967, I studied mechanical engineering and had a 25-year career in engineering and project management. My prior working life included working with London Underground and Mott MacDonald and on a variety of interesting projects including the Northern Line train service contract and the East London Line project. I have always drawn and painted; following retirement in 2014 I started studying at Art Academy. My practice still includes painting and drawing; however, I have developed a much more multi-media approach during my years of study.
For the motorway people who have forgotten how to stop and stare
Two channel video and installation.
Installation maximum dimensions: 251 cm (h) by 240 cm (l) by 180 cm (w).
Materials – hardwood, tracing paper.
Credits: acting and narration: David Aylward; technical research and selected photographic stills: Helena Russell.
The Devil’s Porridge
Installation artifacts: forensic “map” on cotton fabric, photography, accident report, gunpowder barrel, wooden table, field safety lamps
Maximum dimensions: 120 cm by 78 cm
Image credits: historic Ordnance Survey mapping “Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland”, Google Earth, “The Great Explosion” Brian Dillon.
My practice is multi-media ranging from painting to video pieces. I am interested in using technology for art making.
I have a passion for things which could be described as techno-fossils, obsolete objects that have now become a hidden or forgotten part of the fabric of the urban or rural landscape. My practice, a form of technological archaeology brings together research and making.
I use my technological knowledge, arising from a prior career in engineering, to investigate these techno-fossils and make artistic pieces based on my findings. This allows me to produce works which have a unique perspective of places or objects.
Aesthetically, I usually refer to modes of display or methods of information presentation which are redolent of the practice of engineering, for example laser scanning, CAD drawings and technological site processes.
Both of my show pieces reflect my interest in psychogeography but take differing approaches. In the case of “For the motorway people who have forgotten how to stop and stare” I have created an audio and visual installation which reflects on the “overlooked” status of a lovely brutalist footbridge over the M11 in Essex. The other piece “The Devil’s Porridge” responds to my walk through a techno-fossil landscape in Uplees, North Kent. In this piece my aim was to produce a visual representation of my practice.
Born in the Isle of Man in 1967, I studied mechanical engineering and had a 25-year career in engineering and project management. My prior working life included working with London Underground and Mott MacDonald and on a variety of interesting projects including the Northern Line train service contract and the East London Line project. I have always drawn and painted; following retirement in 2014 I started studying at Art Academy. My practice still includes painting and drawing; however, I have developed a much more multi-media approach during my years of study.
My art practice focuses on human behaviour characterized by states of disorder and pleasure seeking and I am interested in riots, raves and subcultures.
My work blurs the boundaries of real and imagined experiences, emphasizing dark, uncertain situations to create intrigue and ambiguity. This takes on various forms intended to draw the viewer in and invites them to question where reality actually resides.
I source images from rave videos, holiday photos and grainy CCTV footage. I’ve
used these as a starting point for a number of my pieces of artwork and they
begin as a collage before being worked into a painting or installation.
To give a visual rawness I use a variety of surfaces; be it deteriorated carpets,
used builder’s plastic sheeting, wooden boards found in skips, as well discarded
and twisted metal road signs.
I mainly use fluorescent, acrylic and spray paints as well as detritus found in
streets. I particularly find that broken and cracked perspex sheeting – a man made and very brittle material – connects directly with my subject matter.
I have recently been drawn to installations and for my final piece I have created a psychologically absorbing and immersive, walk through world. From the outside it looks like a gallery built within a gallery but upon entering and travelling through the corridors to the exit, this changes very quickly.
Meltdown At The White Cube Gallery
nstallation
Installation dimensions: 2.32m (h) by 5.00m (l) by 3.84m (w).
Materials Used.
Exterior & Frame: plywood and softwood.
Interior: All found materials; fibreboard, MDF sheeting, lino, blue plastic sheeting, perspex, steel mesh, hardboard, chipboard, foam board, metal window frame, builder’s floor protector and nitrous oxide cannisters.
Credits for help: Simon Yates, Black Dog Studio, for help in construction. Andy O’Brien for help with moving and painting.
“I make work at the intersections of art, science and activism”
Zora Owen is an Essex-based artist whose practice is grounded in ethical and ecological concerns. Rooted in drawing, it branches into multiple disciplines, where human and nonhuman subjects are approached with the same empathy. Her work, and ways of working, are informed by awareness of the Anthropocene/Capitalocene. Using reclaimed materials and foraged pigments, she taps into ancient traditions of mark-making with respect for the origins of colour and the rights of nature.
Experimenting with Victorian techniques of animation and illusion, her handmade optical toys craft dynamic moments that engage the viewer in co-creating their perception. She hones in on the sense of wonder, scientific curiosity, and thrall to natural phenomena, while subverting the exploitative ethos of the period in her use of materials–– eschewing destructive, disconnected modes of consumption in favour of radical relationship-building with sources and systems. Revisiting ancient methods to forage and prepare natural pigments, the intricacies of creating colour lead into many worlds: historical, chemical, ecological, and more.
One half of an identical twin pair, this formative experience underlies an intuitive understanding of interconnectedness and shared identity. Her practice considers both human connection and the concept of the “eco-self”, where ethical boundaries extend to the living planet, recognising ecocide as a shared crisis, and asking how art can not just imagine but actively participate in change.
REANIMATE: The Witch
To use: first take a pair of gloves- many people will have touched this. Spin the device and bend down to look through the gaps. Keep your eyes focused on one point, and you’ll see!
The graceful underwater flight of the long-extinct great auk can be seen on this Victorian animation device- the zoetrope. Constructed from reclaimed wood, each of the twelve frames of the animation are painted with handmade oak gall ink on recycled paper. A precursor to film, the first appearance of the device in the mid-18th century parallels the disappearance of the greak auk, last sighted in 1844.
The last extinction in the British Isles, no one alive has ever truly seen a great auk in motion. Standing nearly 3ft tall, they were flightless and fearless around humans, for whom they were easy prey. Our relationship with the great auk was one of great cruelty; it was common practice that they were burned alive for fuel, or plucked of their feathers, fully conscious, and left to die. Their increasing rarity only intensified the lust of museums and private collectors, whose scramble to own skins and eggs for themselves spurred their demise.
The fate of the last great auk in Britain was decided by three fishermen. For three days they kept it alive, and bound, until they found themselves at the mercy of a terrible storm. Suspecting the bird of conjuring the storm, they branded it a witch, and beat it to death with a stick. None were seen here again.
The only remaining colony, in Iceland, was slaughtered in the name of preservation– by museums. The very last great auks in the world were a pair, found incubating their egg. It was smashed with a boot. They were strangled.
Recent research confirms that humans were entirely responsible for the loss of this species.
Extinctions are now occurring with alarming frequency, leading scientists to believe we are sleepwalking into Earth’s sixth mass extinction. As habitats are destroyed, and overfishing, hunting, and climate change ravage wildlife worldwide, we are dismantling our own life support system. It was once assumed that we did not have the power to wipe out an entire species, let alone the whole web of biodiversity on which all life depends. It is time to face the truth.
£1400
Also sold separately:
Zoetrope £950
The Witch, mounted and framed £600 (unframed £500)
INKS
Made with responsibly foraged and otherwise wasted ingredients, and bottled in glass recovered from a Victorian landfill. Natural inks are often ephemeral and always in flux, unfolding their surprises over time and as they influence each other.
You are invited to play– see how they change and harmonise in unexpected ways. (Please use gloves and dispose of in the bin provided- they are compostable!)
1. Black-grey: Iron gall ink
Made by reacting iron with the gallotannic acids patiently extracted from oak galls– a natural phenomena caused by the oak tree’s response to parasitic wasp larvae– this ink has been used for thousands of years. It is permanent and lightfast, darkening by oxidation to a bewitching black within days of being applied, and bonding to natural fibers. Once ubiquitous, many of our most precious documents, poems, and sketches owe their existence to this ink, and to the curious relationship between human ingenuity, the life cycle of a tiny wasp and the protective forces of a mighty tree.
*This ink will keep for a long time, and if it becomes mouldy, you can simply remove the mould- it actually improves the colour! It will write beautifully with a dip pen, but clog a fountain pen over time.
2. Red-brown: Avocado Chocolate
3. Red: Bloodstone
4. Red-pink: Avocado Pink
You can get blood from a stone! A treasure from trash, these seductive colours appear like magic from avocado stones, skins, and soda ash (aka washing powder).
5. Green: Copper (seafoam)
6. Brown-green: Copper (earth)
7. Blue-green: Copper (jewel)
8. Light blue: Copper (creamy turquoise)
Copper, salt and vinegar react to produce alluring blues and greens. This is known as verdigris, a historical pigment and a capricious colour, in a constant dance with the ambient environment. The ink separates and can be shaken back together before use, or separated into a translucent green and a gorgeous, thick turquoise. Each of these colours were made with UK pennies from before 1992, when they were almost pure copper. Each of these inks were created from the same handful of coins, 5 and 6 with distilled vinegar, 7 with white wine vinegar, and 8 containing a luscious paste collected from batches of both).
*Toxic if ingested, so handle with care and dispose of responsibly.
9. Yellow: Sunburst yellow
This long-life ink is made from the notoriously strong-staining spice, turmeric. Soluble in alcohol, it forms a golden liquid that brushes on bright yellow and develops a warm hue as it dries.
10. Yellow: Lightbulb
11. Yellow-brown: Golden Onion
Usually discarded as waste, onion skins contain quercetin, the plant pigment responsible for these luminous yellows. Alum has been added to enhance the colour.
12. Light brown: Warm Tan
Black tea, an unassuming ingredient found in nearly every British household, contains tannins that act as a natural dye, and can be layered to create subtle golden shades through to deep browns.
13. Pink-purple: Blackthorn Blush
14. Blue: Sloe Shift
This is a living colour, shifting in response to light, time and pH levels. The pigment comes from anthocyanins, which means this hot pink cools to purple, blue, then finally a soft grey on acid-free paper, but remains pink on pH neutral surfaces. 13 is prepared with citrus to counteract the blueing, and can be brightened further with a simple squeeze of lemon over the ink, whether wet or dry.
15. Blue-purple: Blue Shift
16. Blue: Tidal Blue
These halochromic inks are made from gently steeped butterfly pea flowers. Full of anthocyanin pigments, they are exquisitely sensitive to pH, natural indicators that can display a spectrum from blue to red. Citric acid (lemon) has been added to 15, and the liquid is a glorious purple, turning blue on the paper; watching paint dry has never been so transfixing. Experiment with different surfaces, such as wood and untreated fibres, that will allow the purple to sing.
30-40ml vintage corked bottle: £18
Set of 3: £50
Set of 4: £60
Some inks are also available, or can be pre-ordered, in 35ml recycled jars: £15
*Shake before use. For drawing and writing with dip pens and brushes, not suitable for fountain pens. Fruit and flower inks fade, and are best kept refrigerated and out of sunlight. Wild colours can not be fully tethered and this is part of their mystique.
“I make work at the intersections of art, science and activism”
Zora Owen is an Essex-based artist whose practice is grounded in ethical and ecological concerns. Rooted in drawing, it branches into multiple disciplines, where human and nonhuman subjects are approached with the same empathy. Her work, and ways of working, are informed by awareness of the Anthropocene/Capitalocene. Using reclaimed materials and foraged pigments, she taps into ancient traditions of mark-making with respect for the origins of colour and the rights of nature.
Experimenting with Victorian techniques of animation and illusion, her handmade optical toys craft dynamic moments that engage the viewer in co-creating their perception. She hones in on the sense of wonder, scientific curiosity, and thrall to natural phenomena, while subverting the exploitative ethos of the period in her use of materials–– eschewing destructive, disconnected modes of consumption in favour of radical relationship-building with sources and systems. Revisiting ancient methods to forage and prepare natural pigments, the intricacies of creating colour lead into many worlds: historical, chemical, ecological, and more.
One half of an identical twin pair, this formative experience underlies an intuitive understanding of interconnectedness and shared identity. Her practice considers both human connection and the concept of the “eco-self”, where ethical boundaries extend to the living planet, recognising ecocide as a shared crisis, and asking how art can not just imagine but actively participate in change.
Maša’s interest lies in challenging what is considered ‘ordinary’. She explores this idea by dissecting experiences, memories and stories of ordinary life to make them feel uncanny, creating a moment of absurdity. The absurd arises from the conflict between that which we believe we see and the reality behind it.
Through experimenting with layering mixed surfaces and media, she represents different viewpoints of singular experiences and allows their realities to coexist. She attempts to depict an accumulation of perspectives: a super reality – wherein the things we think we know stand conflicted with their purpose, as well as their strange chaotic nature.
‘Taking a photograph’
Oil paint on wallpaper
130 x 112cm
‘Passes by’
Oil paint on paper and mesh fabric
80 x 47cm
‘Melisa’
Acrylics on wallpaper and mesh fabric
100 x 145cm
‘Side track reminder, but not a monument’
Mixedmedia on canvas
97 x 101cm
‘After school detention camp’
Acrylics on paper
96.5 x 88cm
Emily Russell is a multidisciplinary artist based in London. In her Graduate Show exhibition, titled Some Time, Emily exhibits work she produced during the lockdown, when her studies were suspended. In Some Time, inspired by the performance artist Tehching Hsieh, Emily addresses his idea that time is both a gift and a burden. Ultimately, she proposes that the question as to how we spend our time, is the most important question we have to address. Furthermore, Some Time is the demonstration of her own personal response to this question, which is that of seeking meditative joy through the performance of repetitive processes.
To attain a state of meditative joy, Emily alleviates the need for making design decisions during the process of making, by creating parameters beforehand. Parameters such as the work being monochromatic and hermetic in nature apply to all her work. However, she also creates additional parameters for each individual work. For example, in the film, When I Make I Rest, the parameters were to make a mark with a pencil and then rub it out, a process which was repeated until the pencil was blunt (2hr38).
Media and materials provide the impetus for new work. This is demonstrated in the piece titled, Fabric of Society. Having previously worked with toilet paper before (casting the interiors of toilet rolls in plaster), Emily wanted to devise a new way to respond to this material, which had become so predominant during the pandemic. She devised the repeated process of cutting out the embossed shapes of the toilet paper, using a pair of nail scissors. The shapes, which are reminiscent of the corona virus, and the fragility of the material, gave rise to the title, which testifies to the ways in which the fragility of our social structures have been exposed during this time.
Emily’s work commences with the design for a process. However, in the many hours that each work takes, ideas about the material and their connotations do begin to percolate. For example, With A Summary of The News, arose from the combination of a long-held desire to work with newspaper, and to work with materials that were at hand during the pandemic. The process devised was simple: remove all the colour, both of the images and the text. However, this piece also led to a wider consideration of her own, and society’s broader, consumption of the news. In particular, the addictiveness of the news, the social approbation of keeping abreast of current affairs, and the agendas which inform the selection of news items. In short, this work assesses the truth of Henry Thoreau’s assertion that all news is essentially glorified gossip (Walden, 1854).
The question of how we spend our time is pertinent in each of the pieces displayed in this exhibition. This is explicit in the title of the embroidery series, Wouldn’t It Be A Shame if We Were Only To Learn How To Live When We Die? This piece records the UK corona virus cases and deaths from 26.02.2020 – 02.04.2020. The cases are presented in grey and black stitches, and the deaths are presented in red stitches. The title acknowledges how the pandemic has led many people to reappraise their lives, and the activities and the people they value. However, it was also very much tied to the fact that, for Emily, the process of making is when she feels most alive. In this way, it is her way of contending with mortality.
When I Make I Rest
Film
2hr38
POA
Fabric of Society
Toilet Paper
20x200cm
POA
Wouldn’t It Be A Shame If We Were Only To Learn How to Live When We Die?
Embroidery (series of 10)
25x25cm (indiv.)
POA
With A Summary of The News
Newspaper
250x600cm
POA
Emily Russell is a multidisciplinary artist based in London. In her Graduate Show exhibition, titled Some Time, Emily exhibits work she produced during the lockdown, when her studies were suspended. In Some Time, inspired by the performance artist Tehching Hsieh, Emily addresses his idea that time is both a gift and a burden. Ultimately, she proposes that the question as to how we spend our time, is the most important question we have to address. Furthermore, Some Time is the demonstration of her own personal response to this question, which is that of seeking meditative joy through the performance of repetitive processes.
To attain a state of meditative joy, Emily alleviates the need for making design decisions during the process of making, by creating parameters beforehand. Parameters such as the work being monochromatic and hermetic in nature apply to all her work. However, she also creates additional parameters for each individual work. For example, in the film, When I Make I Rest, the parameters were to make a mark with a pencil and then rub it out, a process which was repeated until the pencil was blunt (2hr38).
Media and materials provide the impetus for new work. This is demonstrated in the piece titled, Fabric of Society. Having previously worked with toilet paper before (casting the interiors of toilet rolls in plaster), Emily wanted to devise a new way to respond to this material, which had become so predominant during the pandemic. She devised the repeated process of cutting out the embossed shapes of the toilet paper, using a pair of nail scissors. The shapes, which are reminiscent of the corona virus, and the fragility of the material, gave rise to the title, which testifies to the ways in which the fragility of our social structures have been exposed during this time.
Emily’s work commences with the design for a process. However, in the many hours that each work takes, ideas about the material and their connotations do begin to percolate. For example, With A Summary of The News, arose from the combination of a long-held desire to work with newspaper, and to work with materials that were at hand during the pandemic. The process devised was simple: remove all the colour, both of the images and the text. However, this piece also led to a wider consideration of her own, and society’s broader, consumption of the news. In particular, the addictiveness of the news, the social approbation of keeping abreast of current affairs, and the agendas which inform the selection of news items. In short, this work assesses the truth of Henry Thoreau’s assertion that all news is essentially glorified gossip (Walden, 1854).
The question of how we spend our time is pertinent in each of the pieces displayed in this exhibition. This is explicit in the title of the embroidery series, Wouldn’t It Be A Shame if We Were Only To Learn How To Live When We Die? This piece records the UK corona virus cases and deaths from 26.02.2020 – 02.04.2020. The cases are presented in grey and black stitches, and the deaths are presented in red stitches. The title acknowledges how the pandemic has led many people to reappraise their lives, and the activities and the people they value. However, it was also very much tied to the fact that, for Emily, the process of making is when she feels most alive. In this way, it is her way of contending with mortality.