MA Summer Show
This page demonstrates the work I showed for the MA Summer Show. I have used a combination of Egg Tempera and Watercolour paintings. I painted the two central portraits directly onto the wall using watercolour paint. Working in this manner is reflective of my mural paintings. You can also explore the planning for the MA Summer Show by clicking: Planning For MA Summer Show. As you scroll down the page will be will be able to explore wider shots of the work and zoomed in elements of the work.
I have also included an audio recording of Jane and myself reflecting on the MA summer, the feedback we received, QR codes, and our thoughts towards the research festival.
During my critique, it was observed that the women I painted weren’t well connected. They appear to be randomly placed women with little connection. Some of the women I’ve painted are from the achieve, and some are from my friendship circle and friends of friends. The relationship between these women is education, art and feminism. All the women painted move between these circles.
I liked the space my work had been selected for. I was placed between Xingxin and Maggie. I have shown with both artists, as they are part of the Dirty Landry collective. Lu was also in the same room as us, highlighting how our practices link on a conceptual level while visually working together.
It was interesting being in a room with many works of nude women and paintings depicting women being sexually assaulted or contained. My work felt sandwiched between explicit depictions of women. On some levels, I felt probiotic as my works were a celebration of women, a depiction of them as people beyond their physical bodies. However, is this then my less sexually progressive feminism coming through? All the paintings within the room of nude or sexually explicit pictures of women were painted by women. Through my judgement of their works, am I also repressing the female experience? I found this juxtaposition an exciting dichotomy to depict as I felt, on one level, frustrated with the objectification of women but also excited by how so many women were exploring the female experience from a women’s perceptive.
MA Summer Show wide angle photos
MA Summer Show Close ups
Feeling Fruity Feelings, Fall and Flow. Egg Tempera on Board and Watercolour on Wall, 70x90cm, 2023.
Feeling Fruity Feelings, Fall and Flow. Egg Tempera on Board, 20x30cm, 2023.
Feeling Fruity Feelings, Fall and Flow. Egg Tempera on Board and Watercolour on Wall, 70x90cm, 2023.
Feeling Fruity Feelings, Fall and Flow. Egg Tempera on Board and Watercolour on Wall, 70x90cm, 2023.
Powerful Responsibility, Dining and Drinks. Egg Tempera on Board and Watercolour on the Wall, 70x60cm, 2023.
Powerful Responsibility, Dining and Drinks. Egg Tempera on Board and Watercolour on the Wall, 18x24cm, 2023.
Royal Blue Whispers. Egg Tempera on Board, 25x60cm, 2023.
Royal Blue Whispers. Egg Tempera on Board, 20x30cm, 2023.
Royal Blue Whispers. Egg Tempera on Board, 10x7cm, 2023.
Painting over the Cracks, Xing Xin. Egg Tempera on Board, 36x48cm, 2023.
'What ought to be done can be done', Watercolour and coloured pencils on Gesso Bord, 20x30cm, 2023
Reflecting on the feedback I received during my crit, I wondered how I could work with women; I didn’t know to work with a diverse range of women of different ages and backgrounds.
I have also been interested in the workspace and the systems of oppression that work within them to hold women back.
After attending the recent Pay Up strikes in London, I felt real solidarity with other striking teachers and the NHS staff whose Pay has been frozen and whose working environment is being cut and cut.
I also recently won a bid to work with an organisation called SURGE to work with a researcher and create a project exploring heart disease and lung cancer. To work with people affected by these diseases and also bridge the gap between the researchers and the patients.
These two separate events lead me down the path of thinking about women working within the NHS. I created an open call asking women who are working within the NHS to work with me on a project. Within my practice, I have always been concerned about who I represent. Who is given the space, and how can I work with various women outside of my network? I always felt quite concerned about exploiting women, and I didn’t want to ask women in the street if I could paint them because it could come across as voyeuristic, as I would be making them pure objects and not subjects.
However, by creating an open call, I bypassed this issue as by creating an open call, women have been contacting me directly. This has led me to meet women who work in the NHS in Manchester, London, Leicester and Derby. Because the NHS is such a giant monster, as time goes on, I can keep exploring different parts of the UK and the various roles women occupy within the NHS.