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Photography (MA)

Eden Hawkins

Eden Hawkins (b.1993) is a London based artist whose practice focuses on photography and digital modes of image-making. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2016 having received a First Class Degree, The University of Edinburgh Purchase Prize, The Katherine Michaelson Prize, The Number Shop exhibition and residency award, and an RSA New Contemporaries Award. Eden was commissioned by Scotland’s leading photography gallery, Stills Center for Photography, to take part in the group exhibition Ambit: Photographies of Scotland in 2017. This work traveled to the Cello Factory, London for the Ingram Collection Purchase Prize Exhibition. In 2019 she took part in a funded residency program in Hokkaido and Tokyo, Japan which culminated in an on-site exhibition and publication.

Eden is a part of NET WT. In 2016, she completed an internship for the editorial photographer, Qiu Yang. She is currently completing her Master's postgraduate degree at the Royal College of Art, London whilst freelancing as a Photographer and Digital Artist.

Contact

www.edenhawkins.co.uk

instagram

fall in to place

Degree Details

School of Arts & Humanities

Photography (MA)

Through photographs, scans, and digital modes of image-making, my practice examines peripheral materials and surfaces that are embedded in everyday domestic and work environments. I am interested in the possibilities of fabric, interiors, and materials and their abilities to reflect, intervene with and react within their socio-economic climates. 

Sweaty Betty Open Back Support Racer, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 23 x 31” Giclée Print

Anti-Slip Pool Ladders, 2020 — Photograph 23 x 31” Giclée Print

Strapped in Racer, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 23 x 31” Giclée Print

Cropped Vestment Racer, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 23 x 31” Giclée Print

Ursela’s Vessel Racer with Faux Vintage Lace, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 23 x 31” Giclée Print

New Years Resolutions Racer with Running Shoe Laces, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 23 x 31” Giclée Print

Bush and Snail Trail Racer, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 23 x 27” Giclée Print

Masking in Medium, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 31 x 23 ” Giclée Print

Gym Spread no.3, 2020 — Photograph 31 x 23 ” Giclée Print

Splayed Golden Racer, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 23 x 31” Giclée Print

Gym Spread no.1, 2020 — Photograph and digital reconstruction 23 x 31” Giclée Print

Courtside Manners, 2020 — Scan and digital reconstruction 30 x 30 " Giclée Print

I started going to the gym at the beginning of my second year at The Royal College of Art. It was a new space for me, but one that was redolent of environments that I frequented as a child. On the ledge of the swimming pool, I was reminded of my own self-consciousness as a prepubescent girl. Of competitions, events, clubs, and practices. As a woman, the re-entrance to this enclosed environment brought with it visceral smells, textures, and sensations that set into motion internal mechanisms.

Like a Stitch in the Side is concerned with the symptoms and motivations of the gym participant. With the notion of optimisation and the female form. Where pleasure, self-care, and spirituality are advertised as acts of self-improvement. Evoking memories of athletic awards and swimmers badges, the figures approached in this visual series play with markers of achievement.

An integral figure to this project is the visual of the racer swimming costume. After vacating the studio to work in isolation, this series became centered around the tools available to me: a high-resolution file of the swimming costume and a scan of an embroidered swimming badge. Unpicked and reconstructed, the digital fibers constitute a large proportion of the images. In these expositions, the generic garment is subverted as it absorbs anecdotal influences from trends on body improvement and marketed lifestyle tips. And it is through this focus on digitally stitching and altering cloth that the distilled shape of the costume meets a language that is inherently associated with craft and women’s work. Between badges and reconstructed textiles are close-ups of the body and generic artificial surfaces, punctuated by a taxonomic fascination with digitally embroidered detailing.
ConstructionDigital CraftDigital MaterialDigital photgraphDigital PrintPhotographyStitch

Shelford Place Studios

Website:

https://www.shelfordplacestudios.com/

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