Summer Show: Fine Art

Fine Art

Thirty examples of work from the fine art class.

Unpeeled: Complexities of the Human Experience

In an age increasingly characterised by an emphasis on surface appearances over substance, and external attributes over intrinsic qualities, it would be easy to become disconnected or apathetic to the sense of depthlessness that pervades the contemporary condition. Artists have and will always continue to use the contemporary contexts that surround them as the raw material for peering beyond the façade of appearance to the complexities of the human experience that lies beneath.  

Unpeeled brings together a collective of artists from the graduating cohorts of BA (Hons) Fine Art: Studio, Site and Context, BA (Hons) Documentary Photography and Visual Activism, and BA (Hons) Photography in the Arts programmes at Swansea College of Art, UWTSD. The artists involved reflect upon their personal and collective experiences, exploring themes of history, the Anthropocene, trace, memory, myth, identity, technology and politics through an embracing of the ever-expanding dialogue between Fine Art and Photographic practice. 

Staff of the Fine Art and Photography programmes at Swansea College of Art, UWTSD wish to thank the Unpeeled collective for the harmonious organisation and deft execution of their exhibition and congratulate them on producing such engaging bodies of work. We wish them every success with their future endeavours. 

Professor Sue Williams
Head of Fine Art: Studio, Site, Context 
Swansea College of Art, UWTSD.  

Ryan L. Moule
Head of Undergraduate Photographic Studies
Swansea College of Art, UWTWD.  

Class of '24

Our Work

Amber Marsh

Amber Marsh’s current practice delves into the realms of introspection and emotional processing through the lens of the natural and immediate landscapes that surround us. Through a combination of watercolour, photography, and handmade books, she documents emotional connections with found objects, views, and ephemera that cross her path as she navigates new locales and experiences.

Marsh’s work is an invitation to explore the depths of our connections, both interpersonal and with the world around us, challenging us to see beyond the surface and appreciate the profound interactions that define our existence. 

Watercolours of a circle and two stacks of pebbles.

Cheye Williams McFarland

Mcfarland’s multidisciplinary practice explores themes of abandonment through the exploration of place. Drawing upon the psychological impact of those living amongst such deprivation, his practice takes influence from the post-war architecture of the local environment surrounding him in South Wales. 

A conical reddish rock on a wooden bench outdoors.

Chloe Rees

Walk Through is built around the complexity of gender stereotypes, femininity and internalised misogyny. Drawing upon feminist art history, her own personal experiences and those of people around her, Rees conveys her lived experience. This establishes a relatable and confrontational commentary on societal stereotypes and expectations of femininity.  

Rees’s multidisciplinary practice confronts the male gaze, revealing other people’s realities of navigating the construct of gender, femininity and misogyny in today’s society.

Twelve polaroid-style photos fixed to a piece of board in rows of four; most show a young woman in a red top walking through a wooden tunnel or striking poses in the dark.

Daniel Lewis

Within his current practice, Daniel Lewis explores the intricacies of his experience with internalised homophobia and queer life in a heteronormative environment. Through a blend of introspection and social commentary, Lewis explores the nuances of the male nude and other imagery adopted by the queer community, keen to understand how and when something that isn’t innately sexualised or gendered become perceived as “gay” and challenging those ideologies. 

A cyanotype showing the back of a male nude set against an ambiguous background, suggestive of ripples in water or fabric.

Ewan Coombs

Ewan Coombs/ Sid Lloyd’s ongoing body of work Dirty Being draws on human interaction with sites of degradation, sedimentary build-up, and places where life forms out of man-made detritus. Incorporating clay, installation, and drawing, this multidisciplinary practice is born from material explorations. The work explores the destruction of the environment and our role within it; thus the viewer is invited to imagine a symbiotic rather than parasitic relationship with nature.  

A sculpture of a rocky cavity.

Heidi Lucca-Redcliffe

Lucca-Redcliffe is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose practice is a continuous exploration of portraying the self through the colour red. Working with the colour red removes security and comfort, replacing it with an intense provocation. Lucca-Redcliffe embeds honesty and a rawness through the process of deconstructing a material to reveal intimacy and the sensitivity from within. This enables her to communicate a response through touch, between body and material.  

An abstract painting made of splashes of fiery colour divided by textured boundaries into squares.

Isabella McWilliams

‘Borrowed Eyes’

The title of this series comes from Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road which contemplates the ephemerality of parts of our lives that we would consider permanent. This series of paintings addresses the temporality of our relationships, as well as the acceptance of their absence.  

By painting on unprimed canvas, these works are vulnerable to decomposition. There is potential for decay, UV light deterioration, cracking and other factors that will ultimately leave the painting irrevocably changed from how it once was. 

A painting showing two young men, both white with dark hair, one smiling slightly towards the viewer while he points towards something off the canvas.

Jessica Phillips

Phillips’s multidisciplinary practice incorporates self-portraiture and has risen from a strong interest in Victorian and contemporary architectural design. Exploring notions of femininity, her self-portraiture deconstructs the concept of the male gaze within both historical and contemporary debate, through a feminist perspective.  

A painting of a young woman looking up from an open book.

Lola Preston

As society advances at an ever-increasing pace, the disposable nature of not only material objects, but the groups of people within it have been heightened. Through her multidisciplinary practice, Lola Preston aims to humanise and bring a sense of reality back to these individuals, challenging the typical conventions inflicted upon us by the current consumerist nature of the world. 

A photograph showing cigarette rolling equipment on a grimy green table and two hands, one holding a cigarette, raised in a gesture that might be invitation.

Max Hughes

Hughes is exploring the intertwined nature of sound and mark-making through abstract expressionist techniques like action and colour field painting. Hughes creates visceral marks and textures through the use of traditional and handmade tools, while actively listening to an eclectic range of music genres to influence his actions.

Abstract acrylic painting with black and grey brushstrokes on a cream canvas.

Megan Kane

Grappling with society’s use and abuse of the animal world, Kane’s work draws attention to the unnecessary suffering of millions of animals in a world defined by an increased demand for animal products, irrespective of their welfare.  

Large-scale drawings and sculptures challenge notions of abjection and repulsion by reflecting on the invisible violence that permeates the meat and dairy industries.  

Abstract painting showing a pool of white like liquid plastic tainted by dark splotches like blood clots.

Nada Najar

Nada’s practice explores a variety of contexts related to global politics, such as conflict, activism, and nature. 

Her paintings and sculptures explore the materialities of the mediums she uses, to infer a response to our proximity to nature, highlighting the shrinking existence of greenery in cities and a disturbing disconnection from nature in modern life.  

Her most recent sculpture is a new departure where she wishes to represent women who are actively and politically involved in our changing society.  

Fine line drawings of sunflower heads and dried plant seedheads.

Oisín McDaid

Oisín McDaid’s work focuses on identity and perception, blending A.I. image generation with traditional painting techniques to challenge our humanity in an age of advancing technology.  

McDaid’s current body of work has shifted away from the use of self-portraiture and has instead focused on using ‘found’ imagery in order to create his large-scale mixed media collages, that incorporate A.I. as a collaborative tool. 

The work produced by McDaid aims to spark conversations about technology’s role in shaping our understanding of identity and what it truly means to be human. 

Mixed media image of a human face, the expression languid, the skin splashed with red, and four extra sets of eyes, each looking a different direction to those in the face.

Pamella Gomes

Gome’s multidisciplinary practice is led by conceptual and cultural research into actions such as gardening and the use of technology. This communicates the sense of “interbeing” where Gomes finds the links between art, audience, life itself, and the everything in-between.  

She reflects upon the importance of art practice when dealing with a specific site, through installation, performance and time-based media. 

A photo showing hands holding a crassula plant, one around the stem and the other around the soil-covered roots; the plant holder is wearing a t-shirt with an image of the planet Earth underneath the word 'home'.

Tamara Amato

Tamara Amato’s body of work “Reveal” explores the sentimentality held in the objects and the locations of the home. Inspired by her surroundings, she constantly looks for comfort and peace. Through the recollection of familiar people and places she hopes to translate the beauty and the importance of simple moments, especially in a world of constant movement. Using her collection of family photographs and watercolours, her work continuously instigates feelings of nostalgia and melancholy and lets the viewers travel in her own little world.  

A Swan Vestas Safety Matches box open to reveal underneath its cover part of a painting showing a girl absorbed in making a painting herself.