Susan Stockwell Biography

The materiality of her sculptural installations, drawings and collages as well as their aesthetic appearance is a reflection of this approach. Stockwell is not interested in coercing her works into particular forms but allows them to unfold in their own disguise and appropriate to their inner logic. This leads to a rich and comprehensive oeuvre – from dresses made out of bank notes, small boat objects, old computer parts in the shape of continents, installations of sails and stitched handkerchiefs.

Found or previously used objects and materials such as maps, money and embroideries are important for Stockwell’s artistic practice. Rarely fictional and constructed, her works reflect true events and are often evidence of their political and cultural colonisation. By transforming and reconfiguring these supercharged materials and objects, Stockwell indicates a possible re-writing of history. This is amongst others evident in a body of work made from old silk bobbins and thread. Stockwell subtly interrogates the value of these items, their travels from various places and their historical significance, tracing them back to the colonial trade. In processing them into sculptural installations she merges the cruelty of a historical event with the beauty of an abstracted piece of art.

Susan Stockwell exhibits in galleries and museums all over the world including TATE Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, The Katonah Museum of Art in America and The National Museum of China in Beijing. She has been awarded scholarships, and commissions such as a Visiting Arts Taiwan-England Artists Fellowship and large commissions for the University of Bedfordshire, Black Rock Investments and most recently the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon.