Iris Roots Print

Born and brought up in Kenya, I now live and work in Somerset, UK. I have an MFA (distinction), Bath Spa University. I was an Ingram Prize finalist ’21, recipient of a Royal Society of Sculptors Gilbert Bayes Award ’19, and received the Red Line Art Works Award ’20 for my environmental sculptural installations Glut, Accretion, Snakes and Ladders. I exhibit throughout UK and internationally, am a member of Royal Society of Sculptors, and trustee of Somerset Art Works.  I create mixed media assemblages, blurring boundaries between sculpture, drawing and installation, often large-scale and immersive. There is an overriding message of sustainability, with environment at heart; a passion for nature rooted in the notion of life’s interconnectedness, cyclical persistence, transformation. I am interested in tentacularity; the complex web of relationships from micro to macro. I see these rhizomic connections as metaphors for life, vitalism and regeneration. Life as line, energy, is an ongoing ‘doing’ thing - matter in a process of becoming. The work focuses on concerns about climate breakdown, human exploitation of nature and over-consumption, which has led to catastrophic mass animal/plant extinctions. My approach is a form of suturing, artivism, making do, care and repair, giving abandoned objects new life. Materiality and process are key. My re-appropriation of reclaimed, found and discarded materials relates to waste, our relationship with matter, nature, and ourselves. I regard materials as non-hierarchical. I use labour-intensive methods, often meditative, engaging directly with materials, deliberately showing the hand of maker. Processes include weaving, wrapping, hand stitching, soldering, welding and casting. There is a play of contrasts, an eclectic juxtaposition of delicate/soft and strong/hard. These can suggest organic bodily forms, sometimes abject. The work blends ancient craft with contemporary concepts, fusing cultures. Deep-rooted connections with Kenya (where I was brought up) inform work. Larger concerns are layered over personal histories. I am interested in creating site-responsive work in unexpected places for art, reaching people who may not have engaged with contemporary art before. Alongside my own practice, I work within the community on socially engaged projects.