Garden Spells

Kim Thornton

Photography
2016

 The starting point for this series was the painting Mary Nazarre by Dante Gabriel Rossetti showing Mary as an ordinary girl, simply dressed, and being occupied with ordinary, everyday activities. In Garden Spells those quotidian activities have been transformed into strange alchemical actions.

The work draws a parallel between mythical creatures whose powers are both venerated and feared and women. Inspired by Magic Realism where magical elements blend with the real world and the most unexpected and incredible things are possible the work focuses on the whimsicality and mischievous behaviour of these ethereal beings.

Though in Garden Spells, Faith, Hope and Charity are the names of martyred saints, they more closely resemble woodland nymphs. The word nymph is derived from the Greek word for bride. Perceived as spirits of the natural world these long-lived female deities are said to animate and to care for nature. The pointless golden tasks presented here must be completed with urgency before the season ends.

 Kim Thornton uses humour and rebellion to explore contemporary issues, the politics of being female and stereotypical roles and their value. She creates surprise narratives usinga multidisciplinary practice encompassing making (transforming domestic materials), photography, film, performance and installation.

Drawing on memories, anecdotes, observation and her own lived experience she subverts everyday tasks to create unexpected narratives. With process at the heart of her practice she fashions costumes from household materials like dusters, dishcloths and scourers to transform these familiar objects into props for her playful and often unsettling scenarios.

Thornton usually works alone moving backwards and forwards between the camera and set to create large-scale photographs or films. This is an important part of her creative process giving her the time and privacy to explore ideas through the shifting roles of director, photographer and performer. Although she has performed in public on occasion, her work is more often a private performance for the camera.

She has exhibited in the UK and internationally with work held in corporate and private collections. Projects she has worked on include designing and leading A Public Airing for

Parliament Week (2013), a South London Women Artist performance highlighting sexism and co-curating Pillow Talk: Conversations with women (2016-2020), a mobile reading room to celebrate women artists. This collaborative project between South London Women Artists and the Women’s Art Library at Goldsmiths was exhibited at Uniqlo Tate Late, the BBC and the Austrian Cultural Forum and has a book documenting its journey. From the 2015 exhibition Tides of Change she was awarded a prize to perform a bridge lift at Tower Bridge from which she created a live performance and film and in 2018 was supported by Arts Council England for her solo show Home Entertainment at the Old Fire Station, Oxford.

Thornton works from her studio at home in London. She studied at Camberwell and Chelsea Colleges of Art and has an MA in Visual Arts (2013).

Website: www.kimthornton.co.uk

Instagram: @kimthornt