Ilsa Brittain
The daughter of a Hungarian immigrant, UK-based Ilsa Brittain says: “I have lived a life time on the move, as a foreigner and a visitor. I have called over 0 places my home in 14 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa and America. As a result, I have been mostly placed in the position of an observer.”
“This finds expression in my work. Rather than seeking what individualises us, I look for the human challenges and complexities we share, and the ways in which we navigate our conflicting paradigms of existence. I explore the psychological intricacies of individuals and the webs they weave to fashion their beliefs, motivations and perceptions, and I use these as the basis for new work. Weaving together imagery, textures and patterns, with varying levels of description, I am looking for visual metaphors that express something of the opposing perceptions we flip between. I pay painstakingly close attention to surface and texture. My work is slow to make and I want it to be slow to read, to appear simple but emerge complex.”