Utilizing a range of media including painting, knitting and screen-printing, Ciara Phillips combines two and three-dimensional works to create installations that draw upon a diverse range of interests – from Medieval woodcuts to Memphis design. Phillips’ practice has focused on drawing parallels between various historical periods and traditions by aligning them with observations of her immediate surroundings. This, coupled with her long-standing interest in combining text and image, is reflected in her current works, which hint at a tongue-in-cheek humour whilst also soliciting serious reflection.
Phillips has developed a new body of work that investigates the relationship of the female body to language. A development of recent work in which the alphabet has been employed as a framework from which to draw formal and conceptual associations, this exhibition combines silkscreen prints, murals and sculptural elements to create an installation that invites the viewer to consider language in its conceptual, physical and material manifestations. Using the body as a basis from which to make letters, Phillips draws upon the long-standing tradition of the human alphabet and seeks to propose new arrangements that offer playful possibilities for a personal interpretation of letters and language. The work in this exhibition was developed during the summer of 2009 whilst Phillips was on residency at Cove Park, and subsequently at the Glasgow Print Studios. An essay accompanies this exhibition from writer Ellie Herring.
Born in Ottawa, Canada, based in Glasgow, Phillips studied Fine Art at Queens University, Kingston (BFA 2000) and Glasgow School of Art (MFA 2004). Recent exhibitions include: Vowelled, Glasgow Project Room (2007); Scottish Collective, with Market Gallery at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2006); and The Clamour of Ornament, Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art 2006.
