Harriet White

My paintings evolve through an instinctive interest in surface and unifying pattern, and involve large scale painterly interpretations of my own photographs stripped of context; snapshots from staged scenes suggesting some kind of alternative fiction. The subject matter switches between faces and botanical themes, unified by an implication of drama and a sense of a hazy, unclarified narrative. There is often a physical barrier involved; ice, glass, projections and reflected light are used to create a purposefully confused image and perhaps a sense of being ‘apart’, something felt more keenly by many during these recent periods of lockdown. The lighting and crop often reference cinema but the paintings remain distanced from any kind of conclusion, maintaining a sense of something slight, dreamt or misremembered.