The artist states: “I hope my visual storytelling ignites imaginations and rouses a curiosity to delve deeper and discover more about the lives of these remarkable women. I want people to feel connected, connected to their stories and to notice the unnoticed.”
Chloe McCarrick’s solo show is a visual celebration of female trailblazers and (s)heroes past and present, using alternative process photography to create an illuminating memorial honouring these fascinating and often overlooked figures. Shining a vital spotlight on these extraordinary characters, Chloe aims to place women’s history firmly within current historical and cultural narratives. Through rule-breaking and blending mediums, this collection was created using traditional approaches to photographic techniques with a contemporary, technological twist: a fusion of science, history and darkroom alchemy. By examining and developing innovative ways of reworking photographic, painted and illustrated images: Chloe uses the medium of hand-cut collage, mixed-media print techniques, and the monochromatic colour palette of Prussian blue cyanotypes to create otherworldly, surrealistic portraits that are suspended deep inside the paper’s surface.
By recording and interpreting the perspectives and human experiences of her subjects, she is able to shape their stories to construct a layered whole. Using rigorous research rituals- (her methodology of collecting and interpreting data) she documents their voices and their visions- their authority, knowledge, struggles and wisdom to create compelling narratives. A rich and resonant means to honour the lives and legacies of women, whose individual and collective accomplishments have enriched us all.
In rendering them visible, these inspirational and empowering figures serve as a totem of strength and symbolise emerging hope. The portraits are chronicles of enquiry, evolving through the dialogue between artist, subject and the viewer. In order to start conversations across boundaries and appeal to intellect and emotion. Chloe hopes to inform and inspire by creating narratives that capture the richness, complexity, and dimensionality of human experience, in a social and cultural context. Each one leads toward a quest for new understandings and valuable insights, as well as instigating a societal sea-change.
