Natalie Sirett

Natalie Sirett


I create series of images that are connected by narrative, in whatever medium best suits the story I am telling. Sometimes these narratives are several years in the making. My current project, REVISIONS, is inspired by stories of family members that I heard as a child. My antecedents were wanderers: Scots searching for any kind of living, Jews fleeing the Tsar, Revolutionaries in search of a new world order. Many details of their tales turned out to be untrue, lost in the Diaspora, yet I was vividly connected to these people I had never met and places I have never been. Indeed, they are still an integral part of my sense of who I am. This begs the question: does the truth of one's history (or lack of it) matter? Much contemporary brain research suggests that memory is an active capacity, rather than a fixed record. If any of us are being remembered, then we are inevitably also being revised.


REVISIONS is a series of etching, dry point and photo etching on steel. Steel, because it is the metal that takes the most punishment without dissolving and because a huge range of marks, tones and textures can be achieved. There is something in the gritty, yet soft-focus nostalgia of its character that makes etching t...

Education
HDip in Painting
The Royal Academy Schools, London

BA Hons in Fine Art
University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Solo Shows
Natalie Sirett, Night Stories, Diorama Arts Gallery, London, 2007
Natalie Sirett, Physical Geography, Alchemy Gallery, London, 1999
Natalie Sirett, The Deluge, Talisman Fine Art, London, 1997

Group Shows
Time=Change Espacio, London, 2014
Talisman Artists, Alchemy Gallery, London, 1999
Ridley Artists, Crawford Gallery, London, 1995
New Painters, The Square Gallery, London, 1992
Natalie Sirett, South Hill Park Gallery, London, 1990
Best Of London Post Graduates, Royal Academy, London, 1989
Summer Show, Royal Academy, London, 1988
Summer Show, Royal Academy, London, 1987
Inventions, Central School Gallery, London, 1987
Summer Show, Royal Academy, London, 1986
National Portrait Awards, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1986 prize winner
Spirit Of London, Royal Festival Hall, London, 1986
New Painters, Carpenters Gallery, Manchester, 1983