Prudence Illingworth | Artist 

Exhibiting artist at 'Things I Wanted To Say But Never Did' | Group Exhibition. 

Opens to the public 4th September 2019, 6pm - 8pm.  

Tell us about yourself.

The first artist I encountered was my babysitter Amy when I was five. She had studied fine art, so she was always teaching me to be creative. I remember making sandcastles of our faces and trying to get the facial features right and her gifting me a flower press and helping me stick them in my scrapbook. She taught me how to find art in the world around me and to trust my creative instincts from a young age.

I continued to study art throughout school, but it wasn't until I was 21 that I began to find my own practice in painting self-portraits. Painting was a way of understanding my relationship with my body. It allowed me to view myself as an artwork and it helped me recover from a dysmorphic view of myself that I'd developed during adolescence. My friends resonated with the ideas expressed through my art, so I began to exhibit.

I have considered myself a 'visual artist' for around one year now and over the last few months I’ve been exploring new mediums, like film and photography. Themes I am interested in are female representation and sexuality, the tension that arises when the private is made public and I also love capturing the hidden struggle that exists in intimate or difficult moments for people.

This is my first exhibited photographic work, as well as my first interstate exhibition, so I am very excited. Besides art, I play piano and sing in a band called Wurli and I am a passionate songwriter. I am based in Melbourne and hoping to study a Master in Fine Arts next year. 

What can the audience expect of your response to the theme?

My artwork is about an internal struggle; a struggle that is silent and goes unseen by the outside world, but is experienced profoundly by the individual. 

Describe yourself in 3 words.

Art. Music. Money. 

If you could say 1 thing to an ex lover, what would you say?

See you in hell.

ARTIST BIO: Prudence Illingworth is a Melbourne based visual artist. She is interested in the representation of female bodies and sexuality in public and private spaces and the tension that can arise when those boundaries are blurred. 

Follow Prudence on Instagram here: @pru.art 

Website: www.prudenceillingworth.com

https://contactsheet.com.au/blogs/exhibitions/things-i-wanted-to-say-but-never-did-exhibition