Sharon Walters | Seeing Ourselves

by Sharon Walters

I am a Black British artist of Caribbean heritage. I have a degree in Social Sciences from the University of West London, a degree in Fine Art from Central St Martins University of the Arts and a Postgraduate teaching certificate in post-16 citizenship education from the Institute of Education. My studies have informed my art practice in particular my interest in race, identity and gender politics.

I create handmade collages using found images in women’s magazines and photographs which have been donated to me for use in the project. Unlike the majority of mainstream magazines, my reconstructed pieces celebrate women’s natural afro hair. My aim is to explore identity, portraiture and representation through the series of work entitled ‘Seeing Ourselves’.

The title of my collage series comes from ‘Seeing Ourselves’ by Frances Borzello, a book about women’s self-portraits. I researched the book while studying for my Fine Art degree approximately 10 years ago and it was only when I explored the book again earlier this year, I was struck by the narrow confines of what constituted ‘ourselves’. So many had been overlooked. I was disturbed by the lack of black women’s self-portraits and artists in the book and wanted to redress the balance. I had already started to make the work and ‘Seeing Ourselves’ felt like a fitting title.

This particular body of work began earlier this year after a running injury left me unable to run.  I was encouraged by Instagram followers to redirect my attention and to make more art instead. Until this point, running had been my main form of stress relief — it became a bit of an obsession — but I was pleased it was a healthy one. I began making a collage daily which lasted quite some time, I would post the previous evening’s creation every morning and the somewhat diaristic, psychological self-portraits evolved on my Instagram platform.

A selection of pieces from the series have been shown in three different exhibitions over last three months. The next show takes place at Borough of Ealing Art Trail (BEAT) which is a pop-up exhibition on 8th, 9th, 15th and 16th September at Gunnersbury Park Museum www.visitgunnersbury.org. To keep up to date with my work visit www.instagram.com/london_artist1.  I am finalising details of an October show in London too so visit my page to find out more.