Rhian Cooke

Divide by Two
Thursday 19 September - Friday 25 October 2019

Rhian Cooke was born in Lincolnshire in 1995. In 2017 she graduated from Leeds Arts University and has remained living and working in Leeds. During 2019 she has been nominated as one of the Associate Artists for the Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019.

Cooke explores the fine balance between the handmade and digital through sculptural and film-based processes. Through fictional and real imagery, the barriers and divides between them are investigated. She explores history and landmarks in the countryside landscape and combines them with the imaginary. She sees moving image as an object, something which can be carried, transformed into a memory. Through her work she reimagines information that is hidden, not tangible or goes missing and reinterprets it by exploring its spatial capacity.

Her works move between the physical, digital, shot footage and animation. She is interested in the history of moving image and different forms of animation and the magic you can create with it. Her work often has translucent layers, disguising or revealing. The objects she makes for her moving images are sometimes hybrids of nature and have bodily movements. She sees the objects as the characters; they have the starring role. They interact or control aspects of the real or fictional world, sometimes moving between them. They may intervene or control it. They also like to show their physical texture. They are often small and made using sewing, painting and photography-based practices, creating visual metaphors with the on-going stories and imaginary environments she makes.

Rhian Cooke is part of the Yorkshire Sculpture International Associate Mentoring Programme 2019.