Ostara

Rebecca Harper (b. 1989)
Much of Rebecca Harper’s work has revealed
itself through a diasporic consciousness
which can often involve a multiplicity of
belonging and a sense of difference, often
one of ‘otherness’ and displacement. The
identity of the displaced positioning is a
paradox between location and dislocation,
out of place everywhere and not completely
anywhere. Generally, the work frames
expressions of ‘being’ and manifests itself
within an unfolding, wondering, allegoric
commentary on the locations that she
inhabits and those which inhabit her.
Recent work explores a cast of reoccurring
characters that rotate around the outskirts
of the house that she grew up in, where
she also found herself locked down during
Covid. This work is a part of a body of work
that acknowledges the human and worldly
capacity to live at the edge of the precipice.
The characters are never seen as portraits
as such, more like actors that play a role,
filling in for particular people, as they fill
a stage. As Rebecca says of the figure who
resembles herself; “It feels like perhaps this
woman, has almost become a guiding spirit
of myself, one of vulnerability and strength
in the dealings of uncertainty, instability
loss, and grief. She shows up reliably again
and again during terrible turbulence.”
Harper was born in London in 1989,
where she continues to live and work. She
studied at UWE Bristol then The Royal
Drawing School and Turps Art School
(Postgraduate’s). Rebecca was Artist in
Residence at The Santozium Museum,
Santorini, in summer 2019, and Artist in
Residence for the Ryder Project Space at
A.P.T Studios, Deptford in 2018-19 before
becoming a studio and committee Member
in 2019. She was winner of the ACS Studio
Prize in 2018. Chameleon, her debut solo
show at Anima Mundi met with great
acclaim including a review in the FT by
Jackie Wullshlager. Most recently Rebecca
was selected for The John Moore’s Painting
Prize 2021, and previously selected for
Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2018 at
South London Gallery, Other curated shows
include Huxley Parlour, Public Gallery, The
Royal Academy Summer Show, Christies
London and NYC, Flowers Gallery’, Paul
Stolper Gallery, Turps Art Gallery and
Arusha Gallery. Her work is on long term
display in the Albright Collection at
Maddox Street Club in London curated
by Beth Greenacre and at the Santozeum
Museum in Santorini. Harper is represented
in many public and private collections
internationally including the Ullens and
the Royal Collections.
Seven Tears Shed at Sprint Tide
acrylic on unprimed canvas, 170 x 140 cm
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