Courtney Askey
Courtney Askey (b. 1995, Leicester, UK) is a cross-disciplinary artist, musician, and writer. Her research-based practice is currently centred on investigating how labour and the body co-exist within and inform both the production and conceptual framework of her art. She examines these themes through a critical lens shaped by anti-capitalist and post-cyberfeminist theory. Her work interrogates not only what labour means on a broader scale, but also how it shapes the creation of her own art and its place within the wider institutional context.
Askey’s practice revolves around the act of making. She explores how she perceives herself during the act of making and how this perception shifts once the work is positioned within the context of the gallery. Through an analytical and curatorial approach, her work undergoes multiple layers of filtration and transformation, engaging with the space in which it is to be situated. Whether through sound, performance or video, Askey's art challenges the boundaries between mediums; acknowledging the conditions of the gallery as integral to the final work.
Courtney's most recent solo exhibition The Total Rebrand Retreat (May 2023) took place on Governors Island in New York after a three month residency with Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn (supported by Arts Council England funding). Previous solo shows include Certum Quod Factum (March 2022) and The Exposition - Introducing Hercy B, virtual exhibition (January 2021). She has exhibited in a number of group shows and completed commissions in collaboration with local organisations and institutions.
Residencies
AA2A Loughborough University, Lougborough, UK September 2023 - June 2024
Residency Unlimited, Brooklyn, New York City, US March - May 2023
Artists Alliance, Manhattan, New York City, US March - April 2023
Chapêlmêle, Alençon, France February 2023
LCB Depot/Phoenix, Leicester, UK June 2022
Leicester Contemporary/StudionAme Toru Namekawa residency, Leicester, UK September 2021 - March 2022
Previous exhibitions (solo)
The Total Rebrand Retreat, KODA/RU House, Governors Island, New York, USA, solo exhibition 5 - 8 May 2023
Certum quod factum, Leicester Contemporary, UK, solo exhibition, 18 - 26 March 2022
The Exposition - Introducing Hercy B, virtual solo exhibition, January 2021
Previous exhibitions (group)
Computala, group exhibition, LCB Depot, Leicester, UK, January 2025
By some means or Other, group exhibition, Martin Hall Gallery, Loughborough, UK 28th February - 22nd March 2024
Pulse, group exhibition curated by Courtney Askey, Firebug, Leicester, UK, Wednesday 27th March 2024
By some means or Other, group exhibition, Martin Hall Gallery, Loughborough, UK 28th February - 22nd March 2024
Emergence, De Montfort University MA Fine Art degree show, Two Queens, Leicester 10th - 18th September 2021
The Sundial Journal, online exhibition, February - April 2021
Cultural eXchanges Finalist exhibition, online exhibition, February - March 2021
L.O.V.E. Art, online exhibition, November 2020
Encrypted Sounds of Wellbeing, online exhibition, October 2020
Socially Distanced, StudionAme, Leicester, September 2020
Ceremony, LCB Depot and Interact Digital Arts, June 2020
The Idle Index (Leicester Art Week), Phoenix, Leicester, November 2019
DMU Graduate Award Exhibition, Two Queens, November - December 2018
De Montfort University Art and Design Degree Show, Leicester, June 2018
Silver Vine Arts Partnership Staircase with De Montfort University, June 2017 - June 2018
Commission for Handmade Festival main stage backing projection film, Queens Hall, O2 Academy, Leicester, April 2017
Art at Orange Tree One, Loughborough, February 2017
Art at Orange Tree One, Leicester, December 2016
Summer Art Trail, StudionAme, Leicester, August 2016
De Montfort University BA Fine Art Year 1 Show, May 2016
Points of Departure, Queen of Bradgate, Leicester, May 2016
Summer Art Trail, Queen of Bradgate, Leicester, August 2015
De Montfort University Foundation Show May 2015
Awards
Longlisted for the Heroica Poetry Prize, 2024
Outstanding Exhibition from De Montfort University for 'My week with a cyborg' 2021
Two Queens Graduate Award for 'The internet gave me brain tingles' 2018
Silver Vine Arts award for 'Archetypes of Discovery' 2015
Leicester Lo-Fi Photography Society award for 'Archetypes of Discovery' 2015
Education
MA Fine Art at De Montfort University 2019 - 2021 - Distinction
BA Fine Art at De Montfort University, Leicester 2016 - 2018 -First Class (Hons)
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at De Montfort Leicester 2014-2015 - Distinction
Previous projects and positions
Gallery Director and Curator at Hub Leicester
Art Consultant at Oberon Gallery
Director, Publicity and Marketing, and Curator at Silver Vine Arts ?
Artist in Residence at Grosvenor House Day Nursery, Nottingham
Project lead for De Montfort University/Silver Vine Arts partnership
Curator at Orange Tree
Workshop Leader for 'Selfie Portraiture' project and exhibition at Soft Touch Arts
Artist Assistant to Leila Houston
Appearances
Welcoming the New Era with Charlotte Ives, performance alongside The Total Rebrand Retreat, KODA/RU House, Governors Island, New York, USA, 5th May 2023
Screen Time, film screening and In Conversation alongside Ronnie Danaher's iConfess, Assembly House, Leeds, UK, 16th June 2022
Headway - What is it like to be an emerging young artist in Leicester? - Documentary, Studio Fig, 2022