Provocative Artworks :: Nancy Fouts

American-born Nancy Fouts has lived in London most of her life. Graduating from Chelsea School of Art and the RCA in the 60s.

Her work is provocative, playful, witty, sharp and tempestuous. Described by Les Coleman as an ‘Art Prankster’.

holliePoPhead :: Di Mainstone

By Di Mainstone, Hollie Miller, Toby Summerskill, Sam Edwards & Adam Stark

HoliPoPhead is a collaboration between artist Di Mainstone and performer Hollie Miller. The concept illustrates a reflective wearable portrait fashioned out of mirror and walnut wood.

Story: A girl appears in a space with a suitcase. She opens it to reveal a collection of intriguing paraphernalia. She pulls each piece out and they release a sound. She removes a mirror which has a negative cut-out of a profile. Placing the mirror over her head, all of the words and ideas in her subconscious are released…

Mother Heb / Loleta :: Adeline de Monseignat

“Mother HEB/ Loleta” (vintage fur, handblown glass, pillow filler, motor, 2000kgs of sand. Installed at the Catlin Art Prize) is the mother of all “Hairy Eye Ball” 2012. Nicknamed “Loleta” after the late owner of the vintage fur coat used for the piece, the creapture gains a ghostly feel. Nested in a sand incubator-like room, the large creapture’s abdomen rises and falls slowly, as if breathing, purring while asleep and surrounded by its baby furry eggs, static because holding the potential for life.

Maps :: Bretta C. Walker

For her ongoing series ‘Maps’, artist Bretta C. Walker sews digital photographs in soft colors with red string. The striking images consist of mostly self-portraits. Speaking about the idea behind the project, Walker says that she wanted to “address [the] invisible illness […] as well as the tangible and the intangible human condition.”

Pyotr Pavlensky

Human Error (Ongoing Series) :: Victoria Siemer

Headpiece :: Rein Vollenga // Photography :: Jonas Lindström

Monstrous Feminine by Jessica Ledwich

The notion of the “monstrous feminine”, as coined by feminist theorist Barbara Creed in her book The Monstrous-Feminine : Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, explores the importance of gender in the construct of woman’s monstrosity. Can Creed’s notion of the monstrous feminine construct still be used to inform our understanding of women in current culture? Modern cultural phenomena such as the obsession with physical appearance and its relation to the idealized view of women, as well as the notion of IVF and the creation of life outside the body; all challenge the traditional roles women play.

The Monstrous Feminine critically examines the value society places on vanity, consumerism and the pursuit of perfection and eternal youth. Historically women’s sexuality has often been portrayed as something scary, uncomfortable and threatening. There is enormous cultural fear surrounding the idea of ageing and as such there is an entire generation of women whose identities are being shaped by this. This work holds a mirror to the rituals and processes women engage with in response to these paradigms.