Exhibition

Lucy Westall was born and raised in Cyprus and moved to England at the age of 16. Currently a second year BA (Hons) student, studying Fine Art at John Moores University in Liverpool. Over the past few years my work has changed and developed, but usually leads back to my upbringing in Cyprus. 

For this aeries of work the artist began looking at surface textures, which had been created in urban landscapes through various aspects, such as neglect, poverty, politics and weathering. Mimmo Rotella is an inspiration in her work; in the way that he explores the idea of layering, which is what she finds so visually interesting in these urban surfaces. 

‘Through the Window’ series evolved out of what the artist felt was an overlooked image and had previously discarded. Reviewing the image, she appreciated the beautiful colours and textures, and explored the surface tensions within the image. 

After having developed the main image, the artist made a connection between the image and the frame that it sat in.

The artist found part of the image reminded her of worn sepia photographs. This led to an exploration of darkroom photography.

The artist explores the tactile qualities of  frames using specially located drift wood, aligned with the visual qualities of the image.

The use of glass is an attempt to persuade the viewer to look through both the glass and the image itself, and the use of frosted Perspex distorts images.

Photographs of Cyprus near the Green Line, a neglected land littered with army checkpoints; show black vastness, conveying an atmosphere of tension, emphasising the impact that politics has on this landscape.

Im really pleased with how the opening night went, as well as the exhibition overall. I do feel that the arrangement of my work doesn't work that well, and would have been better with more space around each of the images, but as we were a large group, space was hard to find. This is something which I feel I will consider more when next exhibiting. The reception for my magnetic presentation cards was really well received, and by the end of the night only a few remain. I'm currently in the process of making more so that hopefully there will be enough for the rest of duration of the exhibition.