Emma Cousin
b. 1986, Yorkshire
Lives and works in London
Emma Cousin looks at what we can and can’t control in everyday life, using the body to explore human aspirations and expectations. Her paintings question how supportive we are of one another as women, as bodies and as individuals.
“Phrases such as ‘holding myself together’ or ‘hanging out’ are often starting points to the work that takes dominant female stereotypes as a core narrative. I use the body, or groups of bodies, to build a structure, to present “status changes”: like mobility, clothes and aging. The groups might fail — are they going to topple over or fall apart? There’s an implicit danger, a relationship between the figures which could go either way — to provide a support system, or to pull each other to pieces. I’m curious about our expectations of our bodies and judgements of other bodies. I’m testing their limits and interested in putting the bodies at risk. They exist in a liminal space which is a place of discomfort, an edge or a boundary. A space between us and not us.”
Emma graduated from Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford in 2007. Recent exhibitions include: Mardy, Edel Assanti (2018); Leg Up, Lewisham Art House, London (2018); Wasp, Hannah Barry Gallery, London (2018); 8 Minutes from Here, Southbank Centre, London (2013). Cousin completed a residency at Skowhegan School, Maine, USA (2018)
The artist was in the following exhibition:
Survey
Links :
https://emma-cousin.squarespace.com/about/
