Elizabeth Seymour
BA Fine Art First Class Honors.
‘Politically motivated’, ‘multidisciplinary’,‘current’ and ‘unflinching’ are all ways that those closest to her have described Elizabeth Seymour’s practice.
Seymour takes on political topics to open conversations amongst her audience. In some of her more recent works the difficult context is disguised by playful interaction that encourages the audience to speak more comfortably and openly. However, some of her pieces embrace the sensitivity of the topics. The outcomes of her practice very much depend on what communicates the message best. Seymour also emphasises the importance of audience interaction and sees this as a defining point of the artwork. The artwork is not complete until it is viewed and responded to by the public. For this reason, making art accessible and easily understood is a significant part of Seymours work. A further recurring theme is the use of text, particularly in the style of news headlines. This type of communication allows Seymour to make clear statements by taking news headlines out of their original context so we can see them in a different light and form new understandings of the information that we are being fed.
Seymour's work explores a range of often contentious topics. Although her themes vary, each one is about human life in the present
Pandemic Snakes and Ladders
Work your way through the Covid-19 Pandemic in the UK. Avoid the snakes that will send you back and aim for ladders that will help you reach 'The New Normal'. Eat Out to Help Out, lockdowns and haunting milestones are just some of the events that will remind you of the journey we've been on.
Who looks after the strong ones?
A Centenary of Caring was a collaborative project between BA Fine Art students at Norwich University of the Arts and Medical Practitioners.
The brief for the Centenary of Caring project was to respond to the group discussions in a 'low-tech, hand-made and inexpensive' way. It had to be personal and relate to the conversations we had had with our group.
"Who looks after the strong ones?" was a reoccurring statement during these conversations. This made me think of my fathers own role during the pandemic as a Consultant in Public Health.
The embroidery is copied from my fathers handwriting.
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"Oven Ready Brexit"
In response to the events surrounding Brexit and the problems the UK is currently facing, this piece mimics the Conservative Party's 2019 campaign slogan "Oven ready Brexit".
Councillor Alan Waters
While out on our daily walk myself and my mum bumped into Alan Waters. After discussing our experiences of a Covid-19 Christmas we got onto the subject of the arts and my studies. We laughed about how it was a difficult time to learn about sculpture and he joked that if he was ever I need of someone to make a statue of him he would come to me however the statue would need to have a seagull on his head to prevent the real seagulls from ruining the statue. During this conversation Alan was sat with a friends celebrating her birthday with flask and a yellow plastic mug.
Following this I sketched out Alan's vision of his statue with a seagull on his head.
Advent Calendar for Realists
Throughout December and the lead up to Christmas 2020 I created my own advent calendar called the Advent Calendar for Realists. Each day I used a headline from the news to add a touch of reality to the Christmas excitement of an advent calendar. This idea comes from noticing a weird irony in the timing of the vaccine roll out in the UK. Just as we started the countdown to Christmas the excitement of the vaccine started. These parallel emotions felt very strange and almost as though the timing was planned.
News Report Paintings
​In this series I have painted images relating to news reports. These reports in particular are posted on charity websites away from front page or headline news. Each painting has a quote taken from the news article and the title is the website address for the article. The stories are something I believe should be worthy of headline news but something that is so frequently underrepresented and ignored by mainstream media.
Make Your Own: AK-47 MEGA!
An interactive game where the viewers can play with large soft-sculpture pieces that when placed in a particular way create the shape of a AK-47. This work questions the normalisation of violence, particularly within child's play.
Make Your Own: AK-47 LEGO
A AK-47 shape gun made entirely out of multi-coloured Lego blocks. This work questions the normalisation of violence, particularly within child's play. Made in collaboration with Oliver Seymour