Ashleigh Beattie
I am a Zimbabwean British artist based in Manchester. My practice explores themes of displacement and belonging as a migrant living in the diaspora. I work mainly in sculpture and installation, repurposing everyday materials such as newspapers and tin cans. These fragile materials are embedded with meaning, memories and stories. Through my work these found materials are transformed and given permanence. This recycling characterises my practice and draws from my childhood in Zimbabwe, where nothing is thrown away - everything is recycled.
In the past I have made work in response to the migration crisis. Exploring the journeys of migration and the injustices many face.
More recently I have been working on a series of sculptures and installations that explore the ‘Resource Curse’ in Zimbabwe. It is this sometimes fractured and fragile relationship we as humans have with the land we live on that I am interested in. The new work I am making is an exploration of my own relationship I have to the land of my past and present and is a searching for how, if possible, these two worlds exist alongside each other.
