Charys Wilson
I create works predominantly through the medium installation and 3D works, with immersive or interactive qualities. With a background in printmaking my attention is often grasped by qualities of alignment and layering. Bringing elements of the outside in; exploring pathways of illusion, mimicry, with light and shadow.
My work aims to still the viewer both physically and mentally, to hold them and reconnect them to the present moment. This space encourages contemplation and stillness through the familiar, but also through the abstracted and distilled. Light, both natural and artificial, has helped realize this aim.
My work is fuelled by the awareness of climate crisis and modern-day societies growing disconnection from nature. I have always had a fascination with the overlooked, underappreciated, seemingly banal aspects of nature. Fleeting moments that are often missed, namely those involving light.
When people feel little to no connection with the natural world it becomes easier to destruct. I aim to create ephemeral worlds of light and spirit, redolent yet spare, using biodegradable and recycled materials.
Creating domestic landscapes that contain only light and nature – a world that feels both lost to us and uncannily present.
Biography
Born in Donegal and raised on the North Coast of Antrim. In 2015 I gained a BA in Fine Art from the University of Aberystwyth. I have completed artists residencies at Joya de Ecologie in Spain, 2014 and at Takt, Berlin in 2017 and in 2022. In 2022 I gained a Masters of Fine Art with distinction from the University of Ulster, where I was awarded the CCA Graduate Support Award, the Golden Thread Gallery Mentoring and Exhibition Award and the RDS Visual Arts Award. In 2021 I was awarded the Alice Berger Hammerschlag Award.
Recent exhibitions include “Traces of time” installation within the Centre of Contemporary Art, Derry/Londonderry Project space, “Afterword” MFA group show at the Engine Room Gallery, Belfast, 2023: “I hope this finds you well”, “Work/Play,” “Surroundings”, “Here’s me Here” in the Flax project space, 2023; “at an uncertain place, at an uncertain time” QSS Gallery, Belfast, 2020; Art Science Exhibit at the Humboldt University, Berlin, 2017. Solo exhibitions include Takt, Berlin in 2017 and 2022, and the Golden Thread Gallery in 2023.
charyscw@hotmail.co.uk
