Laura Footes

Born 1988, GB
Lives and works in Margate, GB

In Laura Footes’ dream-like paintings, a cast of ghost-like forms are rendered through an elastic timeframe, occupying almost hallucinatory space yet tethered to a familiar reality. 

The imagery is pulled from Footes’ personal experience and fragments of memory, filtered through an agglomeration of art historical references, the aesthetics of cinematography, French poetry and world literature – elements that the artist became acquainted with during long periods of convalescence. Living with an aggressive autoimmune disease since childhood has prompted her to explore ideas of dysfunction (disease) and healing, and how they manifest in the psychological, architectural and bodily realms. 

Footes describes her process as pulling apart the facades of architecture and the flesh, looking to capture things the eye can’t see and that are also beyond the limitations of technology. Influenced by the innumerable NHS x-rays and scanners used on her own body, she likes to ‘zoom out’ and create psychogeographic mind maps of remembered spaces and neighbourhoods, and then ‘zoom in’ – seeing through walls, exploring interiors and peering through the spectre of the permeable, transient body into the cosmos of its cells. With everything laid bare for her audience – the uncomfortable moments, the daily rituals, and even our internal systems, both anatomical and psychological, Footes hopes to share the beauty of dysfunction. 

Laura Footes (born 1988, UK, lives and works in Margate, UK) studied at The Royal Drawing School (London, GB), The Art Students League of New York (New York, US), and Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris, FR). Her work has been recently presented at Carl Freedman Gallery curated by Tracey Emin (Margate, GB); Annely Juda Gallery (London, GB); The Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College / University of Cambridge (Cambridge, GB); Royal Drawing School (London, GB); Towner Museum (Eastbourne, GB); TKE Studios (Margate, GB); Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh, GB); Royal Academy (London, GB); amongst others. Her works are part of prestigious collections such as The Royal Collection (GB); Tracey Emin Foundation (GB); The Lakshmi and Usha Mittal Collection (GB); The Blavatnik Family Foundation (GB).