photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: guest curator / Sophie Anna Gibbings / USA

Sophie has returned to Joya: AiR as our guest curator. She was here in September 2022 as a resident artist, working primarily with performance and sculpture, using materials found in the landscape and returning them to the landscape at the end of her residency. Sophie recently organized and developed her own collaborative artist residency in Margate, UK and hopes to continue to bring artists together through these residencies and curate exhibitions around the theme of regeneration.

 On Sophie’s practice…

 “I reference the practices of regenerative agriculture as an entry point to my work. My process is more about an ecology of the mind, rather than a regeneration of soil. All the materials used for my artworks are found in the landscape and can be returned to the Earth, without any harm to her. It is at this intersection of material and landscape that I explore the core values of my work.

I don’t see myself separate from nature but rather as two artists working together. Performance is the beginning of this collaboration, often referencing my own body as it relates to nature’s body. Using different mediums, including printmaking, alternative process photography, painting, and sculpture, I am exploring how an initial performance done in the landscape can lead to many different bodies of work.

These works are ephemeral, and I have no attachment to their permanence, as we all come from nature and return to nature. By creating an opportunity for non-logical encounters with my art, I intend to increase the viewers sensibility to the environment. I am interested in what happens to the materials after and beyond their time on display, and how this consideration might help regenerate ecologies.”

Sophie Anna Gibbings

Sophie was born in Santa Barbara, California and has lived in the UK for the past 3 years. She received her Bachelor’s degree in photography from Lesley University College of Art and Design. She recently earned her Master’s in Art in Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins. She was awarded the University of The Arts, London Art for the Environment Residency (AER) at Domaine de Boisbuchet, France. Sophie was shortlisted for the University of The Arts, London Maison/0 This Earth Award. She is currently exhibiting her work as part of the Art for the Environment exhibition at GroundWork Gallery in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK until June 2024. Other recent exhibitions include Meant to Fade, Laneway Gallery, Cork, IE, Impermanent, Safehouse Gallery, London and a performance for Dance for the Sky, Slash Arts Gallery Houseboat, London.

Sophie’s website: https://www.sophieannagibbings.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophieannagibbings/