ALICE BIGGADIKE

With inspiration from the likes of Hieronymus Bosch and Leonora Carrington, I work with painting sculpture, and textiles to embody the world of my mind. To ground myself in nature and escape into fantasy simultaneously. My work begins with myself, with the goal of reaching out to others and finding connections in imagery. The landscape of England and historical architecture bleed into my paintings where I blur the lines between real and unreal. I hope to look to the past to find archival techniques and apply them to my work, I believe the success of the future relies on the wisdom of the past.

My sculptural project titled ‘Costume Party’ features the likes of Mrs Crow, Mr Meteor, Mrs Appletree, Miss Barnowl, Mr Gargoyle and Mr Raven. These sculptures are based in fantasy, a world in which you may receive a mysterious invitation to a woodland party, to wear elaborate and outrageous clothing.

The fantasy theme is largely inspired by the writing of Susanna Clarke, and the tales of the Fae featured in her books ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’. Using scrap fabric from my collection, I create a costume to the individual theme of the sculpture. It must in some way embody their theme, but the goal is not for the theme to be easily understood by an outside observer. I also take inspiration from European historical costume, I like to use the silhouettes as a jumping off point, my goal is not historical accuracy as I see the attendees of the costume party as timeless.