credit: Magdalena M Kaminska
BIO
Born in the Midlands in 1979 I live and work in Glasgow, UK. I received my Fine Art BA from Goldsmiths College, London in 2001, I have exhibited nationally and internationally. My work is held in private collections.
In addition to painting I was in The Fairies Band between 2000-2007 - gigging, touring and releasing records. I collaborated with friend Twinkle Troughton to create street based performance artworks, I have curated many exhibitions, co-founded A-side B-side Gallery and Studios in Hackney and written a book called ‘Priced Out’. These varied creative activities inform my work as painter.
STATEMENT
My paintings are informed by my life as a mother, a woman and an artist, I aim to celebrate the everyday, and the freedom and empowerment in creativity and imagination.
In a period of division, polarising narratives and the global threat of climate change, I consider how we can respond as individuals, how I can respond as an artist. Painting is an illusory space to explore my thoughts and feelings. In my paintings I respond to my immediate environment and the issues of our time. A recent focus in my practice has been the hidden burden of motherhood and the mental load, I ask questions around how society values women’s time, care-giving and motherhood.
Autobiographical narrative is present in my image making and there is a strong focus on domesticity. The ethos of punk, the amateur or the outsider and the idea of DIY spirit runs through the work. Painting surfaces are often created from repurposed materials I find on the street, at home or in the studio, for example wooden panels, objects such as drawers and cereal boxes. I’m interested in creating a dialogue with women artists who were excluded from the Western art historical canon, by quoting brush marks, borrowing gestures and techniques, and referencing imagery. These are interwoven with the motifs and images from my own family home environment, providing a vehicle for my exploration of paint.