Sophy Rickett
Sophy Rickett works with photography, video installation, sound and text and describes her work as an exploration of ‘the tension between the narrative tendencies and abstract possibilities of the photographic image’.
Her print, Grizzled Skippers: The Death of a Beautiful Subject was created for Field Editions in 2018 and is an addition to a series of 24 photographs in her book ‘The Death of a Beautiful Subject,’ published by Gost in 2015. The work features an ‘accidental archive’ of photographs of butterflies taken by her retired father, extracts drawn from an email dialogue between them, and a narrative text written by the artist.
The 24 photographs in the book have been retouched by the artist to conceal and obscure her father’s original subject matter. Through this deliberate reworking and re-presentation of her father’s photographs, Rickett aims to question assumptions about the nature of collaboration, exploring notions of authorship and consent as well as the fluidity of meaning.
TheDeath of a Beautiful Subject is Rickett’s most autobiographical work to date and explores themes of dislocation, separation and reconciliation. Central to the project is the narrative text in which each vignette evokes a sense of collapse. The book traces and records a dialogue …
Sophy Rickett works with photography, video installation, sound and text and describes her work as an exploration of ‘the tension between the narrative tendencies and abstract possibilities of the photographic image’.
Her print, Grizzled Skippers: The Death of a Beautiful Subject was created for Field Editions in 2018 and is an addition to a series of 24 photographs in her book ‘The Death of a Beautiful Subject,’ published by Gost in 2015. The work features an ‘accidental archive’ of photographs of butterflies taken by her retired father, extracts drawn from an email dialogue between them, and a narrative text written by the artist.
The 24 photographs in the book have been retouched by the artist to conceal and obscure her father’s original subject matter. Through this deliberate reworking and re-presentation of her father’s photographs, Rickett aims to question assumptions about the nature of collaboration, exploring notions of authorship and consent as well as the fluidity of meaning.
TheDeath of a Beautiful Subject is Rickett’s most autobiographical work to date and explores themes of dislocation, separation and reconciliation. Central to the project is the narrative text in which each vignette evokes a sense of collapse. The book traces and records a dialogue with the artist’s family, exploring photography as a means to navigate the world and its relations.
Sophy Rickett selected exhibitions include Album 31 and other works, Fotogalleriet, Norway and UK (2015); Objects in the Field, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (2013); To the River, Arnolfini, UK (2011);Auditorium; De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, UK (2007).
Sophy is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the London College of Communication/ UAL. She lives and works in London and is represented in Tokyo, Japan by Nichido Contemporary Art and in Turin, Italy by Alberto Peola.
Courtesy of Field Editions
Federal Reserve, Washington, D.C.
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaundengo, Guarene, Italy
FRAC, Alsace, France
FSA, London, UK
Goldman Sachs, London, UK
Government Art Collection, UK
MART, Trento, Italy
McManus Galleries, Dundee, UK
Merril Lynch, London, UK
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, Nantes, France
Museum of Visual Arts, Leipzig, Germany
Pompidou, Paris, France
Texas Pacific Group Collection, UK
Tower Place Development, London, UK
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Windsor GmbH, Germany
Worcester City Art Gallery, Worcester, UK