Sarah Jeffries
Sarah Jeffries’ practice is currently undergoing PhD research with the design school at the University of Leeds. After graduating from the MA Painting School at Royal College of Art in 2004, her work has received four international solo shows in the UK, Belgium, and Italy. With inclusions in group shows in Berlin, New York, Milan and London, with several two person shows across the UK.
Artist Statement
Exorcising the Bridal Image: Cut, Paste, Paint
Are we in control of the images in our lives, or are they in control of us? Reflections upon the anthropologist Hans Belting’s (2001) argument - “we are not the masters of our images, but rather in a sense at their mercy; they colonise our bodies (our brains)” – has become a pertinent concern throughout this practice-led research. Leading to visual and contextual investigation towards knowing how the contemporary British artist, might respond to acts of retracing the cyclical nature of the bridal image through a surrealist framework, a hundred years on from its conception. The research utilises Levis Strauss’ Bricolage methodology to bring together objects residing within the domestic domain of the artist/researcher, and considers each object's indexical value of past life narratives. Jean-Paul Sartre’s ‘practico-inert object’ - objects that organise our lives - is also a key concern and sits alongside Belting’s concept of the image, but transforms the image into a totemic object.
These studio practice experiments investigate the potential of dismantling and reconstructing objects of the domestic, towards finding new forms of totemic artworks, which interrupt ideas of normalcy and acceptance within an intended image - particularly in this case the image of traditional western marriage. Once items have been chosen, the research embraces a degree of an ‘unknowing’, which has been made possible through closely considering Andre Breton’s notions of surrealist play, chance, anarchy and utilising unconscious intuition. Work in progress experiments have led to uncanny embodiments of the bride, through the arrival of interconnectedness between the projected image and the painted image.
To critically reflect upon the wedding image, auto-ethnography has been utilised to enable a type of consciousness-raising within the artist/researcher's psyche. This has brought about realisations of the affects, of the bridal image upon the early psyche, and in turn the long-term impact of such exposures on an adult life. Artist and writer Jo Spence once argued that - “within all households, forms of domestic warfare are continually in progress, and although we live this daily power struggle, it is censored, displaced, put off-bounds, transformed into icons of ritualised harmony within family photography” (Spence, 1983). Within this current socio-political climate, this ritualistic harmony exists on a mass scale through the avenue of social media where images lie through a plethora of fake self-imagery and one-sided views of people’s life experiences. The research calls into question the omissions of real life experiences, within contemporary sculpture and image making, to find new enliven ways of presenting artworks that explore what realities remain hidden behind the veneer of ritualistic harmony within traditional wedding imagery.
(Click on image icons to access collections)
Recent Exhibits
The most recent exhibits have been with Graham Crowley's Silent Disco 23 at Greystone Industries Suffolk (2023), Artist of the Week at Axisweb online (2023), A Woman’s Place is Everywhere at The Cello Factory London (2022), Contemporary Art 2020/21 at Waterhouse & Dodd London (2021), Picture Interrupted at Transition Gallery (2019), People Pictures at Jack House Gallery (2019).
Artist Bio
EDUCATION
2021- University of Leeds, PhD Fine Art
2002-04 Royal College of Art, MA Painting
1999-02 Buckinghamshire University, BA Fine Art
1996-98 Canterbury Collage, Art & Design GNVQ
AWARDS
2004 Fine Art Business Pyramid Award, Deutsche Bank
1999 Painting Skills of The Year, Canterbury College
LECTURESHIP POSTS
2024- Art & Design Lecturer, Sparsholt’s Andover College - Foundation.
2019 Associate Lecturer, Arts University Bournemouth - Foundation.
2017 Associate Lecturer, Southampton Solent University - BA Fine Art.
2011 Associate Lecturer, Barton Peveril College - A Level Art & Design.
2004 Associate Lecturer, Camberwell School of Art - BA Fine Art.
2003 Associate Lecturer, Kingston University - BA Fine Art.
EXHIBITIONS
2023 Silent Disco 23, Curated by Graham Crowley, Greystone Industries, Suffolk.
2022 A Woman's Place is Everywhere, Curated by Infinity Bunce, The Cello Factory, London.
2021 Contemporary 2020/21, Waterhouse & Dodd London.
2019 (Two Person Show) Picture Interrupted, Transition Two, London.
(Two Person Show) People Pictures, Jack House Gallery, Portsmouth.
Indoor Voices, Curated by Graham Crowley, Greystone Industries, Suffolk.
2018 LANDSCAPE, The Lone Wolf Projects, Sluice Exchange, Berlin.
Transcendence, The Cello Factory, Waterloo, London.
2017 Connect/Disconnect, Watch This Space Gallery, Hampshire.
2016 The Cat Show, PAPER Gallery, Manchester
Let's Make a Better World, The Cello Factory, London.
2015 Existence, Zoe Hawkins Gallery, Hampshire.
2013 (Solo show) Female, Pili Pili Gallery, Knokke, Belgium.
2012 Inaugural The Zeitgeist Open 2012, ZAP, London.
2011 (Solo show) Once Upon a Time, Pili Pili Art Gallery, Knokke, Belgium.
2009 Lineart Fair, Pili Pili Art Gallery, Knokke, Belgium.
Summer Exhibition, Pili Pili Art Gallery, Knokke, Belgium.
2008 (Solo show) Within These Walls, Waterhouse & Dodd, London.
The Chef, The Artist, The Architect & His Curator, Full Moon at The Fortezza, Italy.
Art Hamptons, Waterhouse & Dodd, New York.
2007 Start Your Collection, Contemporary Art Projects, London
Winter Exhibition, Contemporary Art Projects, London
Help a Capital Child Fundraising Art Event, Chelsea Football Club, London
2006 YOUR GALLERY @ the guardian, Guardian Newsroom Gallery, London.
PRIMEtime: Painting - young art from London, Galerie Seitz, Berlin.
Dreamland, The Chambers Gallery, London.
The Kiss, The Arts Club, London.
2005 The Painting Room, Transition Gallery, London.
We've Been Here Before, Blyth Gallery, Imperial College.
Hollow Salon, Hollow Contemporary, London.
Utopia/Dystopia, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Sussex.
The Kiss, Spectrum Fine Art, London.
2004 (Solo show) Persona, Putignano Arte, Putignano, Italy.
Artists of Fame and Promise, Spectrum Fine Art, London.
PUBLICATIONS
2018 Interview with Sarah Jeffries by Robert Dunt, ArtTop10.com.
Walk & Talk Exhibition Tour of Transcendence by Robert Dunt, ArtTop10.com.
2017 Sarah Jeffries in Connect/Disconnect, Garageland Magazine.
Meet the Artist Sarah Jeffries by Muriel Resnik, Singulart Magazine.
2016 Are Cats Videos the New Opiate by Sara Jaspan, PAPER Gallery.
2015 WSA Graduate Launches New Exhibition, University of Southampton News
Existence at The Zoe Hawkins Gallery by Harry Pye, The Rebel Magazine.
2010 Commendations, Aesthetica Creative Works Annual 2010.
2009 Interview with Sarah Jeffries by Will Davis, ArtLab.
2008 Painting Room Press, Art Art Art Magazine, London.
The Chef, The Artist, The Architect, Grazia De Palma, Italy.
Within These Walls, Solo Show Catalogue, Waterhouse & Dodd London.
2007 The Alchemists, by Louisa Buck, Vogue UK.
Dreamland, by Jackie Annett, Artists & Illustrators, April 2007.
2006 Alive & Clicking, by Jonathan Johns, The Guardian, 19/10/06.
Charles Saatchi - Your Gallery, The Guardian, 06/09/06.
London For Free, Metro, 31/08/06.
2005 Front Cover, Mininas Magazine Issue 7, Sao Paulo.
Sarah Jeffries, First Point Magazine, Summer 2005.
2004 Don't Call Us Call Them, Marmalade Magazine Winter 2004, Issue 5.
In Mostra, Flash Art December/January Issue 2004/05, Rome.
Interni Bourgesi Della Jeffries, La Republica, Rome.
COLLECTIONS
The Royal College of Art Collection, Kensington, London
Wellington Finance, Washington, USA