June Nelson

I make art out of prosaic stuff, hoping for some poetry. I use paint, ink, plaster, graphite powder, beeswax, and smoke to explore my themes, combining two- and three-dimensional works on paper and on canvas; in assemblages, sculpture, and moving image. When hesitating, I remind myself that I was once brave (or foolish) enough to build an 8-ft high chamber in public, despite never having made anything more complicated than a stretcher. A recent career highlight was one of my smoke drawings being shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018.

I use history and mythology to stand witness to hidden or silenced lives, inspired by notions of female agency in new translations of The Odyssey, and historical and archive images of women.  Process, time, and the relationship between object and subject link the recurring patterns and images in my work. Hands, mirrors, threads, weaving, and individuals, both past and present, appear. I have made 'blind mirror' sculptures; wall drawings; graphite and wax panels; an octagonal graphite-covered chamber; a selection of cartographical curiosities and handmade compasses; paintings of isolated buildings and individuals; and an installation about a community’s experiences of flooding.

During Lockdown, I collaborated remotely with my dance-artist daughter. This led to a series of human-sized, dynamic charcoal drawings, based on a gift of Mothers’ Day flowers. These anthropomorphic floral “moving still lifes” are combined with an hypnotic colour film projected over them. This familial connection continues in my current work in progress, which began on a residency in Wales following the death of my father.