Zoe is a multi-disciplinary artist and technician based in London.

Having graduated with a First Class Fine Art degree at the University of Leeds, Zoe has since expanded her practical skills through her work as an Art and Design Technology Technician, advancing in woodworking, metalworking, kiln operation, darkroom and studio photography. Furthermore, Zoe has continued her artistic practice through exhibitions such as her self-curated exhibition Gin Oclock, 2023 in collaboration with artist Rose de Villeneuve, at the Old Red Bus station, Leeds, and looks towards more projects to come.

Artist Statement:

My multidisciplinary practice employs kitsch phrasing and the theatrical staging of objects as devices that play on themes of death and intoxication with a macabre humour.

Drawing from camp theory as interpreted by Susan Sontag in Notes on Camp, my works are frivolous and anti-serious, mimicking historical forms classed under high art or artifact and cross-referencing them with kitsch phrasing and imagery, which exist within a niche of British culture. Artifice is important to my practice, and my 3D works often employ casting, using materials such as polymer resin and jesmonite, imitating aesthetics from history of art with an artificial materiality. Placed under the spotlight of the gallery and dramatically staged instances, ideas of class and taste are challenged as the kitsch is disguised behind a sense of seriousness as well as being glorified in its display.

Within this visual language, objects such as a novelty gin glass can be combined with William Hogarth’s 18th century poem describing the horrors of the Gin Craze, whilst kitsch phrasing found on doormats and novelty homeware can be embedded within the
mimicking of an excavated Pompeian mosaic.