Shoal Arts

Artist: Laura Porter

Title: Sons & Daughters
Medium: Clothing moulded into bricks

 

My name's Laura Porter, and I'm currently living and working in North Devon, in Braunton. I'm a sculpture and installation artist. You can find examples of my work and CV at www.lauraporterart.com
My practice derives from the physical play with materials - testing them, pushing them to their limits, and irreversibly manipulating them to give them a new character and form. By reclaiming materials that once had an intimate relationship with the body, I instill a new sense of being and purpose into them, and in creating the simultaneous absence and presence of the figurative form, my work explores the notion of the 'other' and the anonymous. The juxtaposing ideas around the comforting and the uncomfortable, the familiar and the strange, and a sense of responsibility paralleled by a sense of loss, is revealed by the obscured bodily forms, which aim to appeal to the viewer emotionally, and physically. The formal aspects of sculpture, combined with the immersive nature of installation, envelopes the space and environment in which the work is placed, inviting the viewer to reflect their own reality onto the work. Life and death is paralleled by a surreal, dream-like or nightmarish situation, yet the beauty of the everyday, and the secure sense of the habitual and the familiar create an environment of integrated uncertainty and realisation, where the audience’s role becomes an integral part of the work.