Water takes hundreds of years to transform. My work holds the hope of a similar change — that through the slow, patient erosion of the past, something new can gradually emerge. Recently exhibited at Bankside Gallery and shortlisted for the 2024 Jackson Painting Prize, my work asks you to look deeper.
Erin Bird, contemporary artist, UK
Erin Bird is the originator of an experimental process called ‘waterprinting,’ where she submerges photographic prints, blending the dissolution of imagery with painterly abstraction. Her vibrant, abstract artworks intertwine personal photographs and self-portraits with expansive landscapes, situating the intimate within a wider national context. This interplay between photography and painting transgresses the borders between rational thought and the spiritual unconscious. In the act of submersion, a metaphorical baptism occurs; the representational clarity of photography is lost to the subjectivity of abstraction, creating a new space where the truth of the spirit resides.
The Set, Hudson Yards, New York City
“The piece is praised for its distinctive ability to encompass fragility and boldness simultaneously”
— Melanie Lenz, Curator at the V&A, London. Judge for 2020 Lumen Prize