OUTSIDE THE MARGINS

Dear Viewers, Listeners and Curious Spectators. On behalf of the BA Fine Art students and staff at Middlesex University, it is my privilege to welcome you to our 2023 degree show, Outside the Margins. It has been quite a journey to get here, three years have seen disruption at every level - such difficult and challenging times for all. Yet throughout this I have been constantly surprised by our cohort’s resilience and determined ability to further their artistic practice.

It is the nature of Fine Art at Middlesex to instil a desire to move outside the margins, venturing into unexplored and uncharted territory. Perhaps, from this place, we might begin to see a truer reflection of the world, side-stepping political rhetoric and the digital vanity of social media? To go beyond the margins is uncomfortable, and it takes a certain determination and self-belief to develop one’s work without expecting immediate gratification. Nonetheless this is where our group has successfully chosen to go, confronting and presenting their artistic challenges in turbulent times.

In recent years I have noticed some students rediscovering dystopian themes; re-readings of Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World and other such classic texts, bringing a reflective and critical eye to every aspect of today’s society. As a nod to this I have asked ChatGPT to give the final word:

“Best wishes to the immensely talented cohort of fine art students at MDX who are pushing boundaries and exploring socially and technically relevant art across a range of mediums. I am confident that your degree show will be a resounding success!”

ChatGPT 16.01, 13/03/2023

Thank you ChatGPT. And thank you to our talented cohort, who, as alumni, I welcome back to share future achievements with the next generations of Fine Art students here at Middlesex.

Nic Sandiland 2023

ALICE BEDNARSKA

Boldness of style and message is what I strive for in my practice. I achieve this by experimenting with selfexpression and media in my work, creating pieces of a personal nature exploring themes of intimacy and selflove.

By delving deeper into these techniques, I also develop artworks possessing a radical-feminist and Marxist subtext, for the personal is the political.

ANNENICOLE MANOLE

I am an artist. My art is based on passions, imagination and deformation of realities. I paint from intuition and picture with my mind. I create from my heart and I let my artworks describe my intentions. I use different materials using the same technique.

I love fine drawing and painting and I am an abstract old fashioned artist. I am a fan of colours and mixed shades, layered paint, liners, pen and pencils while the ideas wave themselves on the work surface.

@robbie.annenicole

AURÉLIE MÉRIEL

My practice explores the boundaries between the well known and the uncanny. I like to create a sense of unease by using familiar objects and images in unfamiliar contexts. In my surrealist imagery, I want to invite the viewer to experience new narratives.

My work focuses on generational transmission, motherhood, domesticity, female representation and gender politics. I use sculpture, painting, film, photography, performance and installation. My interest in textile comes from my childhood, as I often watched my grandmother and mother sewing, an activity that bound the three of us together. @aureliemeriel www.aureliemeriel.com

BEATRIZ VARETA

My practice is focused on figurative oil painting on canvas, approaching views on sisterhood, trust within relationships and the balance needed in them.

The narratives are mainly interpreted by women doing mundane tasks and I try to capture a glimpse of that moment by using empowering, feminine colour palettes that convey peace, love and harmony.

CLARA LEAF

Working as a set designer and a multidisciplinary creative, I have thoroughly embraced the idea of supernatural nature within my project, working expressively with various selections of materials and techniques, supported by a major eye for detail.

My project is called, ‘Things That We Dream Of,’ and it consists of several installations and sculptures of different shapes and sizes, with towering heights of up to two meters tall, an enormous painting twelve feet wide and ten feet tall; from metal- binding interior structures to wooden carved, plaster outers.

A magical wonderland where everything beats the odds of nature!

@claraleaf www.claraleaf.com

CRISTINA NEGRARIU

I am an interdisciplinary ‘maker’ with a passion for deconstructive material manipulation, altering the shape, form, and context of an object or space. I find spaces highly inspiring, and I enjoy decorating and rearranging them. Most of the time, my work takes the shape of an installation, which is exhibited on a bigger scale using sculpture, storytelling, textile, photography, videography, sound, and performing elements.

Memory, time, family histories and trauma, as well as the feminine, are the key themes explored in my works. Through what I am creating, I intend to honour the subconscious human world and to bring a connection between us all.

@cristinanegrariu

DANUT STEMATE

I am an exploratory artist, passionate about theatre, characters, colour and expressive gestures. My art is based on experience both in the decorative arts and in the installations of theatre and film scenes.

Restoration is also part of my portfolio. I am passionate about the manual technique of prints on textiles and various other surfaces. I work with intense colours, pigments and fine shades. My art is alive, full of history that will last in the minds of those who are in search of knowledge.

EBONY WEST-DIAS

My work is a representation of growth and rebirth moving to a new beginning in my life.

Expressing emotion and obstacles and the challenges to myself I have been faced with, I am choosing the expression of simplicity and defiance to showcase my work.

HOLLY SEZER

Over the journey of this course; as a figurative portrait painter, I have explored the human form as my subject matter. My pieces contain themes of gender expression, sexuality, womanhood and understanding the‘gaze’ that my portraits behold.

My works have developed into a series of large portrait paintings on canvas, using oil paints for details and acrylic medium for bold solid backgrounds. I am inspired by fashion photography, queer culture and collage. These inspirations have helped me develop a subject matter dear to me and that will follow me throughout my career.

JESSIE HEALEY

As an artist, I continue to look for the indications of something that has occurred in the environment. This means, to find a mark of an existence or passing of something. I use photography and printmaking as my main mediums.

My method of working is heuristic; I capture my own imagery and then afterwards use the same capture to create something new within that first image. Lastly, carefully selecting one colour to represent a feeling I have when taking my photographs.

JOANA SIMAES

The core of my work is classically executed figurative oil paintings on hard surfaces in various sizes. My works largely explore the classic painting techniques of Goya and Michael Borremans and the subject in relation to the representation of Freud's concept of the uncanny, trying to confront the spectators and make them feel uncomfortable and uneasy.I also try to apply these ideas to the public through some experimentation with video.

@j.a.c.simaes

JÚLIA KÜHL

My practice is mainly focused on creating figurative works that are a hybrid of two-dimensional and threedimensional elements. I enjoy exploring with new materials, manipulating 2D materials in order to transcend to 3D, and combining different materials to create composite pieces with multiple perspectives due to the depth. The figures tend to depict complex emotions, relating to my own struggles with mental health.

LEON WESTBROEK

My creative process resides in multimedia and Installation art, where I use light, sound and movement in my practice to depict changes we are experiencing in the world from technological, political and environmental perspectives. My own aspiration for the future is to establish myself as a practising artist and exhibit my artwork for public viewing. @le0n_west3roek_98

LETÍCIA FERREIRA

Multidisciplinary artist experimenting with painting, sculpture, silkscreen print, and video. I have been exploring alienation, self-absence and displacement through portraiture with an autoethnographic approach. Alongside, I work with representations of the domestic environment and the abstract decomposition of such.

MANISHA KAUR

My work is influenced by my emotional state of mind. I experiment with mediums such as acrylic paint, plaster and oil pastels to explore a sense of calm. I use a muted colour palette to express this.

MARIANA TEOFILO

Mariana is currently painting landscapes, changing real colours to create psychedelic landscapes, swirling and pulsating in a way that seems almost alive.

@marianateofiloart

MARIUM KHAN

My practice is mainly concerned with portraying narrative and character through printmaking and observational drawing. Currently my work involves a series of large screen prints that focus on the theme of mother-daughter relationships. The story of these screenprints primarily focuses on a young girl witnessing something strange and fantastical one night from her bedroom window...

NEREESA WHITTAKER

My practice reflects how I see the world, noticing things that others cannot see. These are the everyday things, as seen through my eyes, formed of dysfunctional shapes, distorted colours and emotions, shouting out, almost as if they are alive.

https://nereesawhittaker7.wixsite.com/my-site

NIA GARDENER

As a mixed media artist, I often work with ink, bleach, pastels, charcoal, and drawing powder, painting with feathers, sponges, brushes and sometimes sticks. My practice is painting disfigured figures to represent the body as a vessel by removing its appearance. Since becoming a Christian, I see the body as a blank canvas, like mannequins that link to how I use breath as the main subject and how I want that shown in my works with my brush strokes. The textile materials I use show a light, airy feel since we can't see the breath but feel it, so I tend to experiment with different materials to emphasise this.

@nia.gardener

https://padlet.com/niagardener

NICOLE GUNAROVÁ

I experiment with photography, drawing, painting, textiles, multimedia, installation, sculpture, and monoprint. My current works are predominantly abstract and focus on themes of nature, colour, emotion and mood. These are inspired by imagination, photographs, and artists who have significantly influenced my artistic practice such as, Vincent Van Gogh and Karl Blossfeldt. I enjoy working inseries with various materials and mediums, including oil paint, acrylic, ink, cardboard, canvas, cartridge paper, and watercolours.

RITU GURUNG

I enjoy working with light and projectors to create a momentous sense through the absence of objects. The subject of absence is somewhat personal to me, and it has highlighted the technique and effect I use on my work.

The lighting helps set the atmosphere of how the colours contrast within the space. Projecting an image on top of the object creates the depth dimension of image separating yet coming together.

SALOMÉ GONÇALVES

Experimenting with mixed media, my practice involves a series of mediums, as I attempt to explore ideas of attachment and detachment within a feminist approach. Currently working with textile and video performance, my latest pieces play with materiality, memory and the body, and how those move together to form identity.

SHYANNE CANNON

My art practice is mainly based on mental health. Throughout my practice I try to stick to this as being my main theme. I look closely into emotions and how I can portray this in my sculptural work. A lot of my sculptures are to do with hands as I feel the hands can evoke a lot of emotions as well as looking at different gestures that the hands make, looking at how the hands are a key communication within itself. The materials I like to play around with in my work are mesh wire, plaster and clay. These are the main substances I use to create work, however within my work I feel that the process itself is very important.

https://shysartuk.wordpress.com

SIOBHAN J CODD

My practice draws from themes surrounding childhood, freedoms, existence, time, motherhood and feminism. My work represents the uncanny nature of contrasting themes in an attempt to move and engage the viewer. With my interest in childhood, journeys, capturing time and contemplating existence, my work provokes a subtle intrigue within dark lit scenes, in contrast with the innocence and playful imagination of a child’s world. With a passion for creating narratives within photography, it has led me to set up shoots on location, where my selected young models are staged with plenty of room for improvisation. Influenced by like minded fine art photographers, Gregory Crewdson and Julia Fullerton-Batten, I aim to create a dramatic, cinematic feel to my photography with a film-still like quality through the use of photoshop. @Sjennifer__c

RENÉE DA ROCHA

With painting and portraiture being constant within my practice, exploring methods to present them as promotional pictures or advertisements has been my main focus.

Some images I create, aim to pay homage to historical South Asian culture and others, more personal to families within that community. I hope to evoke nostalgia within those who can understand and share the hardships and beauty of the cultures with those who are not familiar and, for those who enjoy learning about foreign tradition.

I want to convey the essence of relationships between families; within the ‘ordinary’ lives lived in places unheard of; simple lives that are beautiful and worthy regardless of perceived importance.

@reneedr.art

TESSA BROWN

Resting on a lifetime of acquired skills, I have chosen to develop my practice with a more organic mindset. Whilst working with abstract sculpture, my ideas have developed in conjunction with my choice of materials. These choices reflect my connection to my urban surroundings.

Considerations, concerns and questions around humanity's relationship with resources examines an awareness of our place in time and space. These ideas swirl around and eventually play out via experimentations with reused and reinvented materials.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Aaron Harris

Afra Kristy

Alberto Duman

Aldous Eveleigh

Alexander Missen

Alexandra Kokoli

Alex Morillon

Alice Maude- Roxby

Anne Robinson

Bart Pajak

Caroline Rooke

Chris Lord

Ergin Cavusoglu

Freddy Morris

Georgia Clemson

India Tomkies- Flash

Jamie Halstead

Jeremy Russo- Ball

Joanna Wilson

John Dack

John Timberlake

Katherine Jones

Kathleen Mulaniff

Katya Timoshenko

Keith Piper

Kristina Sotiris

Kritika Agarwal

Leo Gauthier

Loraine Leeson

Luke White

Nadia Radjabi Lord

Nic Sandiland

Owen Wall

Peter Thomas

Robert Crow

Rory Hooper

Sam Wibberley

Sarah Davies

Simon Read

Sonia Bienek

Suman Gainda

Tansy Spinks

William Lakin

William Gillingham- Sutton

CREDITS

Catalogue Committee

Chair and Cover Design: Marium Khan

Rep: Renée Da Rocha

Siobhan Codd

Promotion Committee

Chair: Salomé Gonçalves

Rep: Joana Cunha Simaes

Holly Sezer

Aurélie Mériel

Julia Kuhl

Léticia Ferreira

Tessa Brown

Space Committee

Chair: Clara Leaf

Rep: Alice Bednarska