Sally de Courcy was born in Canterbury, Kent. She qualified in 2016 from the University of Creative Arts, Farnham with a first-class honours degree, scholarship and masters with distinction in Fine Art. She is interested in the repetition of cast objects and works in different mediums including bronze. The objects are re-assembled to reveal a narrative.
Her past medical experience of working with refugees as a young doctor influenced her work, which often stands for those who are treated as less than human. The philosophical reasons for the repetition of violence through history explored by philosophers Butler and Zizek have influenced her, together with artists Doris Salcedo, Ai Weiwei and Mona Hatoum who transcend their autobiographical experiences to comment on thematic human issues. Recently her work concerns humanitarian aspects of the COVID19 pandemic.
Sally is a member of IAVA, International Association of Visual Artists and Continuum. She has had publications most recently in Flux Review Magazine and has won awards. She has exhibited throughout the UK and internationally most recently with Transcultural Exchange, Boston and The Borders Exhibition in the Contemporary Artspace, Palazzo Albrizzi- Capello, Venice and the Ty Pawb Open, Wrexham. Sally has future exhibitions in 2021 planned in London and the UK. Sally lives in Woking, UK.
Self-taught or art school?
An interest in social justice led me away from art into a career in medicine. My own future seemed comfortable until sudden illness catapulted me into retirement at the age of 40. No longer able to do the job I loved and facing an uncertain future, I turned back to art and to art school. I took an access course at the University of the Creative Arts in 2008. I progressed to a BA in Fine Art before obtaining a Master of Arts in 2016. The training I received over eight challenging years at the University of the Creative Arts, extended and consolidated my practice as a conceptual artist and allowed me to rebuild myself, piece by piece.
If you could own one work of art, what would it be?
Maman by Louise Bourgeois
How would you describe your style and can you tell us about your artistic process?
My work aims at challenging our perception of ourselves, our fragility and our strength. My sculptures evolve by manipulating multiple cast objects so that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Using repetition as emphasis, the outcome has a decorative geometry and kinetic unity that expresses are shared human experiences and conditions. My work is not autobiographical in the figurative sense, but like many artists explores the liminal space between conscious representation and unconscious influence. My work is deliberately decorative but hiding darker and often sinister subjects that when revealed create dissonance. The sum then becomes something that, like an optical puzzle, oscillates between beauty and nightmare.
Is narrative important within your work?
The repeated objects that I cast relate metaphorically and literally and are hidden in the artwork. When viewed, I hope that the contextual links are recognised and re-assembled to reveal a hidden narrative. This narrative is often a voice for those who are treated as less than human. I worked in a refugee camp as a young medic and this experience has resurfaced later in life through my art. In some ways, I see my work as reportage, and I aim through the narrative of the work, to broach sometimes difficult or uncomfortable subjects, for it to be open to discussion.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
I have been strongly influenced by other artists, notably Doris Salcedo, Ai Weiwei and Mona Hatoum. They have transcended their autobiographical experiences to explore, and comment on, thematic human issues.
What or who inspires your art?
I am inspired by my experiences as both observer and participant, as practitioner and patient, most recently as an immunocompromised artist living a shielded existence in relative social isolation. Much of my work revisits my experiences as a witness of human suffering, informed by my wider reading. Recent authors who have directly inspired me include Butler and Zizek.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My studio is a small shed in my garden. It reflects the messy but repetitive process of casting and often looks like a factory production line, organised chaos! It contains boxes of previously cast objects as I often re-use these to create new works.
Do you have any studio rituals?
After the first few casts from a mould, the repetitive process can get tedious. I put on an audiobook then just keep casting over and over.
What are you working on currently?
I am still updating Colour of Mourning that is in the exhibition currently and making good some of the cast objects. I am also in the exhibition The Playful Turn at the Espacio Gallery London at the end of June. I have made a specific work called Playtime, a playful colourful sculpture using octagonal pieces that the viewer can put together.
Where can we buy your art?
Saatchi Art, or contact me via my website.
If you would like to connect on social media links are below:
https://www.instagram.com/decourcysally/?hl=en
You can read more about Sally’s latest project in The FLUX Review virtual exhibition.
