Carys Reilly Lanarkshire, United Kingdom
Carys Reilly is a contemporary artist living in Glasgow. Her practice combines sculpture, photography and body art. Her work is influenced by the 'Pictures Generation' artists, and the radical narcissism of 1970s feminist performance art. The narratives of her practice are shaped by her own experience of chronic illness, and fascination with historical texts on hysteria.
‘She embellished her life in a manner which probably influenced her decisively in the direction of her illness, by indulging in systematic day-dreaming, which she described as her private theatre’ .
My work is shaped by my lived experience of chronic illness: I use my practice to critique social narratives of gender roles, disability and mental health from an intersectional perspective. I examine historical and current sensationalising of women's sadness within popular and digital culture. My practice is cross-disciplinary, combining drawing, sculpture, photography, body art and performance. Coming from a textiles background, the materiality of my work is chosen with great care. My pieces are inspired by the processes involved in woven textiles: I use fabric, thread, and repetitive imagery in minute scale in paintings and assemblages of found objects. My current work explores how conditions including Endometriosis, Autism and ADHD are gendered, and how my experience of them intersects with societal ideals of womanhood. I aim to find a new visual language to portray these conditions in a way that can raise awareness of the access barriers they cause without perpetuating misinformation or gendered stereotypes. In particular I’m looking at how the visual representation of Endometriosis contributes to stereotypes about the condition and alienates gender nonconforming women and LGBTQ+ patients.
Artwork
Conditione Seconde I, Digital Collage, 2017
Conditione Seconde II, Digital Collage, 2017
Hysteria Hat II, Photography, 2016
The Dissociation Machine, 2016
Neoangiogenesis II, 2020
Best Wishes, 2020
Braid, 2016
Untitled , Sculpture, 2016
Transfer I, Sculpture, 2020
Projects and exhibitions
| Details | ||
|---|---|---|
Sweet 'Art Award Show20/07/2022 — 23/07/2022 |
The Bypass Gallery, London | Details |
I Want To Be This Way Again (Solo Show)11/05/2022 — 14/05/2022 |
SaltSpace Gallery, Glasgow | Details |
Contemporary Portraits03/11/2021 — 20/11/2021 |
n/a | Details |
Bees Don't Make Lemonade14/10/2021 — 17/10/2021 |
Kitchen Gallery, Birmingham | Details |
Strange Relations08/10/2021 — 28/11/2021 |
Fabrica Gallery, Brighton | Details |
We Will No Longer Be Silent19/09/2021 — 25/09/2021 |
New Haus Gallery | Details |
Her Indoors11/05/2020 Exhibition |
Online | Details |
Sense and Sensibility01/09/2017 Exhibition |
Winchester School of Art, Winchester | Details |
Deirdre14/07/2017 Exhibition |
The Old Courts, Warrington | Details |
34x34x1502/02/2017 Exhibition |
Hockney Gallery, London | Details |
SHE Book Launch10/12/2016 Exhibition and Book Launch documenting the 'SHE' exhibition from July 2016 |
Unit 5 Gallery, London | Details |
Muriel11/11/2016 Exhibition with Womanstanley |
Leeds Assembley House, Leeds | Details |
SHE30/07/2016 Exhibition with Sweet 'Art |
Ugly Duck, London | Details |
Bad Art13/05/2016 Exhibition |
Bones and Pearle Studios | Details |
Other17/03/2016 Exhibition with RCA Feminist Society |
n/a | Details |
(No)Body09/03/2016 Exhibition |
The Hockney Gallery, London | Details |