Woman House is a motif that has been reimagined throughout Feminist art history. It symbolises, questions, and subverts the traditional female identity within the home. In this piece, the home is a source of conflict, it acts as both my sanctuary and my cage.

Woman House

‘The Pessimist’ is a reflection of one of my flaws. My need to plan for the worst-case scenario because deep down I believe it will come true. It is a recognition of my limitations and my desire to not be defined them. 

The Pessimist

Two bodies combined, their necks bracing them across the room. the tension between the two bodies is gradually pulling them apart. Stones filter down the bodies into a bowl beneath them. Behind the figures there is a net containing a knotted red worm like creature, hung high in the air.

Rupture

‘The Pessimist’ is a reflection of one of my flaws. My need to plan for the worst-case scenario because deep down I believe it will come true. It is a recognition of my limitations and my desire to not be defined by them. 

‘The Failure of Pretence’ is a sculptural piece featuring a wire mesh dome covered in cloth hands. The soft hands suggest childhood; it sits on the floor reminiscent of a children’s fort. It signifies a childish impulse to hide, the desire to remove oneself from everyday life. 

The Failure of Pretence

Encircled in the legs a collection of brightly coloured playthings lay scattered on the floor, They are subversive their colour inviting although covered in tacks they are heavy and awkward to move.

Knots

Found photographs provoke unanswerable questions. These strangers represent faded memories, an anonymous snapshot into another reality. Undefined and malleable their past unknown, they enable new narratives to be woven. These images have become an inexplicit memorial, conveying a sense of fragmentation and loss.

Untitled

A Quiet Sense of Something Lost

The fragmented body can transform an everyday object into something subversive and uncanny. This space is my stage set, a freeze frame of a narrative I have experienced. Conflict, drama and loss all of which I analyse and pick apart. These enlarged dolls are my playthings, my puppets, each playing their part in re-enacting my memories.

Play Along

Catastrophic thinking is a behaviour I find myself doing more often than I would like to admit. It is a habit I subconsciously slip into and pull away from, especially now, when there is so much time to contemplate. As the anxiety rises, my insides become entangled, until I recollect my thoughts and reconsider the likelihood of this idea becoming reality.

Escaping the Pull

‘Bad Breast’ draws on Melanie Klein’s (b.1882-1960) theories on the psychoanalysis of children. In object relations theory, the paranoid-schizoid position is where the mother is not a mother to the child merely a pair of breasts, which will appear and disappear with randomness. This causes the infant both intense pleasure and great distress, causing the infant to split the mother into the good breast and the bad breast.

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Frances Willoughby