Alexandra Mineham

About

Born in the North East of England, I graduated from the Northern School of Art in 2017 with First Class Honours in Textiles & Surface Design. Working in the fields of printmaking, photography and more recently, moving image, I am interested in our relationship to the landscape and the collaborative process between myself and the natural world around me.

Contact

Degree Details

Statement

My work draws on the philosophical theory of New Materialism, the idea that material (i.e. non-human objects) has agency or can be a vibrant actant in the creative process. We are currently in the Anthropocene, in which human activity is the dominant influence on climate and the environment. I use the world’s waterways, particularly the sea, to question the notion of human dominance over all things natural and propose that it is not just humans who are capable of creating an artwork.

Through my work, I question notions of materiality, collaboration and control. I draw upon the parallels between the movement of the ocean and printmaking, with its elements of repetition and re-iteration. I am particularly interested in exploring how these repetitive
processes relate to the human condition.  

Postcards from the Sea

postcards grid
postcards grid

Postcards are synonymous with the British seaside. Since the first pictorial postcards were printed in the late 1800s they have often depicted scenes of tranquility and beautiful scenery. I wanted to create a series of postcards with a visceral quality, demonstrating an immediacy and a connection with the elemental subject they are depicting.

Medium: watercolour paper, pigment, seawater, sand

Size: 106cm x 45cm

Halcyon Days

15/12, 16/12
15/12, 16/12
17/12, 18/12
17/12, 18/12
19/12, 20/12
19/12, 20/12
21/12, 22/12
21/12, 22/12
23/12, 24/12
23/12, 24/12
25/12, 26/12
25/12, 26/12
27/12, 28/12
27/12, 28/12

Ovid's epic poem Metamorphoses tells us the story of Queen Alcyon, who threw herself into the waves in a state of grief over her husbands death. Instead of drowning, however, she was transformed into a bird and flew. Zeus, in pity for her, calmed the sea for a few days in winter so she could nest. This short period of mild weather observed in Europe every winter solstice is referred to as the 'Halcyon Days'.      

‘…she flew, and, beating the soft air on new-found wings, a sorrowing bird, she skimmed the surface of the waves.’  

Today the term 'Halcyon Days' refers to a period of respite amidst chaos, a moment in time when tranquility descends upon the afflicted and peace prevails.

Medium: paper, pigment, saltwater, sand

Size: 310cm x 90cm (entire piece), 42cm x 42cm (individual)