“Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”, 2019, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 162 x 130 cm
Detail of ”Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”
Detail of “Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”
I am fascinated by how we find different versions of Delftware and other blue and white ceramic traditions in several parts of the world: originating in China and Persia, but also in Mexico, England, Holland, Portugal, Spain and Brazil. Imitating in trompe l’oeil many such original tiles, I also use them as a departure point for my own imaginary ones, bringing imagery from other sources. The resulting works represent tiled walls, figures, (some with speech bubbles), reflecting, across time and across cultures, a dialogue between women, their shared creativity and historical legacy. I use this series to claim a kind of matrilineage, paying homage to women I find inspiring, as well as placing emphasis on ceramics not only as a craft but as high art. The heavily textured ‘gold’ frames and outlines express not only a celebratory theatricality, but also, metaphorically, the notion of reparation, as in the Japanese Kintsugi, where broken ceramics are mended with gold junctions.
Detail of “Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”
Juntas (Together), 2020, group of small format portraits, dimensions variable, oil and mixed media on canvas (ongoing series). The portraits are meant to constitue a reflection on the construction of identity, as a metaphorical self-portrait or personal “family tree”, representing women thinkers, writers, artists, and also cherished friends and family members who have inspired, influenced, and/or helped me over the years. I hope to claim a kind of matrilineage and sisterhood through this series, combining History (with a capital “H”) with personal narrative. I wish to humbly pay hommage to remarkable women, as a continuing, fluid, and growing ensemble of works. In this particular image, we see portraits of Mary Wollstonecraft, Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Shelley, Gabrielle Suchon, Sonia Delaunay, Olympe de Gouges, Harriet Taylor Mill, Angelina Grimké, Simone de Beauvoir, Ana Mendieta, and Germaine de Staël.
This series was presented in a solo exhibition at the Maison de l’Amérique latine in Paris in 2022, co-curated by Julie Crenn and Lassla Esquivel. The exhibit was supported by Fluxus Art Projects, Arts Council England, and Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. A catalogue launch and various artist talks were held during the period of the show, also at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Paris.
Curated by Julie Crenn and Lassla Esquivel, accompagnied by a 52-page colour catalogue designed by Fraser Muggeridge studio
To accompany the exhibition, a 52-page catalogue was published, with an essay by Julie Crenn and an interview with Lassla Esquivel. Texts are in English and French. The publication was designed by Fraser Muggeridge Studio.
Pirates and Poets I, 2021, 190 x 130 cm, mixed media on canvas. Here, the silhouette of a female figure on the left holds up her hand to listen carefully to the multitude of voices she can hear, coming from many directions. Extraordinary poets such as Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, iconic Blues singers such as Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, as well strange, mythological creatures, all “speak”, or are themselves spoken about. These artists intermingle across the canvas with historical female pirate figures such as Ching Shih, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny. Poetry, as an audacious, free exploration of the self, is akin to the brave and daring transgression of female piracy. So too, the depths of the human soul are as dark and mysterious as an ocean. Dickinson devoted at least 96 of her poems to images directly associated with the sea, to themes such as drowning, the tides, and the confrontation between sailors and their environments. Elsewhere in the painting, the recurring depiction of tulips refers to Sylvia Plath’s darkly metaphorical poem by the same name.
Pirates and Poets I (detail 2)
I am fascinated by stories of shared creativity. Aretha Franklin covered some songs by Carole King, who in turn was partially influenced by Gospel music. Here, the speech bubbles represent the intertwining of creative authorship.
Pirates and Poets I (detail)
Octavia, 2021, mixed media on canvas, 190 x 170 cm
“Coordinates”, 2021, mixed media on canvas, 170 x 210 cm.
And We, 2021, oil and mixed media on canvas, 162 x 130 cm
In this work, scientists Melanie Klein and Chien-Shiung Wu, literary authors Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir and Willa Cather, blues singer Irma Thomas and political activist Emilia Casanova, all ‘converse’ together. Their dialogue is intertwined with excerpts of the radical RIOT GRRL Manifesto text by Kathleen Hannah, of the feminist punk rock band Bikini Kill.
And We (detail)
And We (detail 1)
And We (detail 4)
And We (detail 2)
And We (detail 3)
Installation view of solo show at Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, London
Dancing Walls, Witches' Night, 2016, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 200x160 cm
Dancing Walls, Witches' Night, (detail)
In this series, multi-faceted representations of jubilant “walls” allow for an exploration of identity as an interweaving of narratives. In the context of 18th century grotesque ornamentation, several of these paintings playfully consider the decorative also as a vehicle for social satire and caricature. In consultation with Ceramics Curator Terry Bloxham, I have studied the iconography of Delftware tiles in the V&A Museum collection, as a departure point for my own imaginary tiles. The resulting large works represent tiled walls and figures, reflecting on themes of “wall-painting as ruin”, and “wall as mask, or as figure”. The painted trompe l’oeil depiction of tiles allows for an exploration of image-as-grid, incorporating interruptions and fragmentations, because tiles, in so far as they can appear damaged, replaced, restored, can be imperfect representations. It is that mix of functionality, decoration, and imperfection in portrayal that interests me.
Dancing Walls, Witches' Night, (detail)
Laughing Wall, Wailing Wall, 2020, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 210x170 cm
Laughing Wall, Wailing Wall, (detail)
Laughing Wall, Wailing Wall, (detail)
Mirror, Mirror, Laughing Wall, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 210x170 cm
Mirror, Mirror, Laughing Wall, (detail)
Mirror, Mirror, Laughing Wall, (detail)
Installation view of solo show at Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, London
“Tears of Laughter” 2020, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 210 x 170 cm
Detail of “Tears of Laughter”
Silkscreen print and collage of digitally-printed elements, archival inks, 80 x 60 cm, edition of 10, in collaboration with Michael Hall, Invisible Print Studio, 2019
Melancholia, 2016, Mixed media on paper, archival frame, 112x59x10 cm