Making the paint herself with earth pigments, Ann Gollifer’s work in watercolour is part of an ongoing series titled “The Archaeology of Love”. Stemming in part from her interest in how politics and power have defined ecosystems, the series explores the possibilities of human redemption in the face of climate change and global warming. 

“Archaeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture”, she says. “If we understand where we come from, who we are, and what we must become, we might have a chance of survival in a simpler future. It is strange to think that perhaps nothing will be left of us in a few hundred years.”

Mythological, metamorphosed creatures - composed in the rich burnt earth colours of sienna, umber and ochre among others - speak to fecundity and the feminine, reminding us of the primordial whilst questioning what lies ahead.  At the heart of the series, Gollifer’s enormous ‘body maps’ triptych reflects her long-standing interest in gender and identity, and the fact that she has used her own body in her artwork for years. 

Carbon Footprints

Cameos

This series of small heads was the starting point for an investigation into the earth pigments, the ochres and how on a technical level the different oxides flow and dry in water on paper. The idea of change was embedded in the process as changes to colour, texture and form happened as the paintings dried...transformed from liquid to layers... it was a material expression of how colours blend and change each other. The changes to the paint as it dried also made me think about how we change throughout life and of course in death the process is reversed as we deliquesce back into liquid. The title references the phrase, ‘a sea change,’ meaning a new beginning. It also references Shakespeare’s beautiful description of death in ‘The Tempest’ where he describes changes wrought by the sea, the original meaning of the phrase. This inspired me to write my own version of the verse and I put that text together with the heads as a starting point for new work.