Alyx Gardiner

Alyx Gardiner is a feminist artist whose work shouts out to inform others. Boldly confronting the nude form, her works are often provocative and direct. She uses the colour pink with the combined use of textiles and mixed practices to spread a message, and perhaps shock, with her eclectic word palette in the work that she creates. These playful forms, usually presented as installations, allude to notions of sexuality and performance, but also highlight the beauty of physical diversity. Current issues are communicated through the textures Gardiner creates in her pieces, which strive collaboratively towards female body empowerment.

Gardiner’s empowering and flirtatious styles convey strong feminist motifs, by challenging the sexual and social boundaries of the female anatomy. Gardiner has been working on a nationwide piece for the last two years, Hanging with the Girls, which she intends to carry on after graduation. It depicts plaster casts of multiple women’s breasts that are intended as wearable. Its clinical display immediately desensitizes the audience from any promiscuous connotations. The liberating exposure of different shapes and sizes celebrates our individuality, evoking a sense of self-love and acceptance. Yet, despite this variation, Gardiner actively leaves each casting untouched. The identical, raw surface unifies the forms, leaving viewers with an inescapable feeling of feminine solidarity.

BA (Hons) Fine Art