Sophie Gough is an artist and researcher that lives and works in London. Her practice considers the process of place-making with fragmented architectures. Evolving across embodied modes of making through mixed media assemblages, drawings, objects, and paintings, she posits the choice of holding on to an object as spatial appropriation in which she attempts to self-preserve in ecologically, politically, and socially, unstable times.

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Recently, her work has focused on the application of a haptic archaeological excavation of the material closeness felt between oneself and the materials with which they surround themselves. During this unearthing, the alchemical and affectual experiences felt with the objects being exhumed is favoured over the objects themselves. Through this somatic and psychical line of inquiry, she has come to find a source of comfort among the elemental materials of copper, lime (calcium hydroxide), graphite, (carbon) within which new intimacies are forged between herself and the mineralogical compositions of her fragmented.

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Like a flicker of sunlight or the trembling of a shadow, identity moves. To fully know oneself, takes work. It’s a precarious practice...

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My work is concerned with exploring notions of shifting identities. We are stratified beings, characters through time. Through extensive material research, I examine the character of a material memory embedded within objects. My encounters through making art, bring me closer to understanding myself and the world around me.

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Working mostly with native and locally sourced objects like silver, the magnolia tree, bamboo sheaths and my own voice, I collaborate with the environment. Within this space, light uncovers vital qualities within these materials.

 

By taking care of these objects, I expose their materiality, breathing new life into their memories.