BA (Hons) Fine Art
Emily Stewart
Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation
A multidisciplinary approach characterises Emily Stewart’s practice; she engages with painting, textile-based sculpture, garment and costume design, installation and performance. The body is central in her practice – from abstract, fleshy oil paintings and bulging soft sculpture, to exploring the body as an object to be decorated, focussing on movement and interaction. Ambiguity is key.
Colour, design and materiality is used to ignite notions surrounding conflicting themes: childhood, sexuality and eroticism, introspection, gender and domesticity as well as liberation versus entrapment. The latter is bound up in the of covering the face, characteristic of much of Stewart’s garments, exploring further relationships to religion, war, terrorism, theatrics and rituals. Overall relating to a Freudian inspired interrogation of the wearable versus unwearable. The activation of the work through performance adds greater layers to the way in which context and location act upon the work, removing expectations to highlight surreal, abstract and thought-provoking responses.
