Annabelle Keyes - Biography

bio / artist statement

I am an interdisciplinary contemporary artist based in Dorset, England. My practice is primarily involved with site-responsive, practice-based research projects, focusing on sacred encounters in the natural world. Through interrelations between themes of ecology, ethnography, mysticism and romance, I am interested in illustrating a dialectical blurring of both empirical and non-empirical methods.

A sense of terrestrial divinity is integral to my work, I seek to reveal the imperfect symmetry that reverberates throughout the forms in the physical plane. These aesthetic interests often manifest in tandem with examples of metaphysical dualities, including nostalgia and utopia, grief and belief, local and remote, masculine and feminine.

My works are realised as amalgamations of generated and recorded information, synthesising a variety of disciplines. These pieces are grounded by historical, philosophical, cultural, ecological and religious reference points, while simultaneously subverting or transforming these narratives. Often responding to specific locations, I consider fieldwork and first-hand research as integrally creatively generative and spiritual experiences, urging me to challenge standardised methods.

My process is often initiated by intimate site-specific performances captured by and developed through photography and video. My installations further materialise through sculpture, found object assemblages and abstract painting, creating spaces of tranquillity and introspection while proposing the findings of my ongoing enquiry.

// CV

Solo Exhibitions

2024 Hydrologic Blessings, The Container, Bournemouth, England

Group Exhibitions

2024 BUG Summer Residency Exhibition, BUG Gallery, Bournemouth, England (upcoming)

2024 This and Other Worldly Glimpse, IAG Exhibitions, London

2024 Escape from Tartarus, Safehouse 2, London

2024 Abstract, Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield

2024 Symbiosis, Fresh Salad, St. Dunstans House, Bristol

2024 Fine Art Graduate Exhibition, Northlight Studios, Bournemouth, England

2024 Green Futures Competition Shortlisted Artists, BUG Gallery, Bournemouth, England

2024 Fibrous Emblematics, BUG Gallery, Bournemouth, England