STUDIO VISIT #2 - ANNA GARRETT
DEPTFORD, LONDON, 10.12.18
The canvases are filled with plants, in toxic and seductive colours – both pulling me in and pushing me away at the very same time. Images of plants and non-plants and every permutation within that range tumble on the canvas. Her work is all about the potential of nature. Post human. Not apocalyptic. We talk a lot about genetic modification, growth and possibilities of nature and evolutionary flows. The works are based on research - thorough and extensive (you can definitely feel the Goldsmiths MA). It’s hard and at times upsetting, Anna tells me. Her research needs to be going all the way. She reads about everything from the seed to the extinction of species. She soaks it all up, like a sponge only to later release it in a powerful, unconscious cry of reclaiming the female body. The weeds perform themselves and take on forms that Anna no longer has any control over.
