About Claire

I am a multidisciplinary artist. My practice spans painting, paper cuts and metal installations.

I create portraits that embody the psyche and emotion of women and with that the intrinsic layers of history and politics. The journey of a woman is encapsulated. There are many uniting themes in women’s lives. Whatever culture or race, from childhood to womanhood the female body goes through physical rites of passage whether public or private, ceremonial or not and all that entails in terms of body politics and sexualisation.

However, in these portraits we do not see the body itself, instead heads and hands are disembodied and the female gaze – or more often a stare, holding the viewer –  is bold and sometimes accusatory. But also looking out into the world, gazing outward instead of inward. Expressive hands cautiously creep in, wringing one another, touching or cupping a face, gnawing at a nail nervously, giving away the anxiety or unease felt within.

These portraits are a way of unmasking these women, capturing what lies beneath, exorcising and expressing the interior beings in her portraits which also are an expression of herself, her journey as a woman and that lived experience.

I create these portraits using gouache, acrylic ink and paint on canvas and paper.

I also create entomological installations of flora and fauna from imagined locations, taking inspiration from nature and the environment. My birds, insects and flowers transcend borders and pass freely between countries with scant regard for rules of immigration or the effects of biodiversity. These works are created using vintage maps and atlases.

I grew up in Lincolnshire and have been living and working in London for over 30 years.

My work has been exhibited widely in galleries around the world including: Manchester Art Gallery, UK; London Transport Museum,UK; Diehl Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA; TAG Fine Arts, London, UK; Flow Gallery, London, UK; CODA, Apeldorn, The Netherlands; Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK; Gallery S Bensimon, Paris France.

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