Phoebe Boswell

Phoebe Boswell (born 2 January 1982), is a multi-media artist and film maker based in London, UK. She has won awards in the UK and Ukraine, and has been described as "a very distinct voice that is full of power and energy", "one of the most exciting young artists working today".

Early life

Phoebe Boswell was born in Nairobi, Kenya, the daughter of Timothy, a pilot, and Joyce, a teacher. They moved to Oman when she was two years old, and then to Bahrain three years later. She attended St. Christopher's School in Isa Town, Bahrain, followed by Hurtwood House. Moving to London, Boswell studied at Central St. Martins, University of the Arts London and the Slade School of Art at the University of London. She then moved back to Bahrain to make sense of her expatriate childhood, and a solo exhibition comprising portraits and recorded conversations was held at the National Museum in Bahrain, and published as ''Bahrainona''. She also co-founded the arts society, Elham.
Her graduate film '' The Girl With Stories in Her Hair'' was nominated for a number of awards, including Best Film at the British Animation Awards Public Choice, Best Student film at the Bradford Animation Festival, and Best Animation in Rushes Soho Shorts.

Career

Phoebe Boswell's multimedia art works have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions in the UK, the US, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Italy. She has won the first ever Sky Academy Arts Scholarship (2011), and the $20,000 Special Prize in the 2017 Future Generation Prize in Kiev, which led to her work ''Mutumia'' being shown at the Vienna Biennale the same year. Her work has been described as using "layered methods of storytelling" to explore cultural roots and identity and "transient middle points and passages of migration". It deals with "the subject of frailty and belief systems", "questions the misrepresentation of the female and the Black body in society and culture", and "recast the female nudeas a site of power and heroism".

Filmography

* 2016 ''Dear Mr Shakespeare'', commissioned by the British Council and the ''Guardian'' to commemorate 400 years since William Shakespeare’s death; selected for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival
* 2011 ''The Pendle Witch Child'', BBC4, presented by Simon Armitage, directed by Ros Ereira, animated by Phoebe Boswell.
* 2010 ''Sorry To Hear You Impaled Yourself on the Roof of Edinburgh College of Art'', commissioned and produced by 12foot6, directed and animated by Phoebe Boswell, story told by Andrew Morgan.
* 2009 ''The Girl With Stories In Her Hair,'' commissioned by the National Gallery, produced by Central St Martins College of Art, written, directed, performed and animated by Phoebe Boswell, music composed by Andres Franco Medina-Mora.
* 2009 ''Bunty'', written, directed and animated by Phoebe Boswell

Exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

*2021 ''Do We Muse On The Sky Or Remember The Sea'', Prospect.5:''Yesterday We Said Tomorrow''
* 2017 ''Mutumia'' (larger scale), Future Generation Prize, Kiev, and Venice Biennale
* 2017 ''Being Her(e)'', The Old Fort and the Women's Jail Galleries, Johannesburg
* 2016 ''Stranger In The Village'', 1:54 NY Contemporary African Art Fair, Brooklyn
* 2016 ''Mutumia'', Biennale of Moving Images, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva
* 2015 ''The Matter of Memory'', multimedia-installation, Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art
* 2014 ''The Matter of Memory'', multimedia-installation, Carroll/Fletcher Gallery
* 2014 ''Trade Roots'', Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London
* 2012 ''Smile for London'', animation collaboration with Kate Tempest on the London Underground
* 2011 ''Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition'', Mall Galleries
* 2010 ''Curiouser and Curiouser'', curated by Rita Parente, Old Vic Tunnels
* 2009 ''Moot'', C4RD, Centre For Recent Drawing, London ww.c4rd.org.uk* 2009 ''Kunskog'', curated by Stuart Pearson Wright, Five Hundred Dollars Gallery, London
* 2007 ''Imagining Ourselves'', International Museum of Women, Los Angeles
* 2005 ''Young Collectors Party - Exhibit 05'', Bonhams Bond Street, London
* 2005 ''Royal Academy Summer Show'', Royal Academy, London
* 2005 ''Slade Summer Show'', University College, London
* 2004 ''TEN'', Adhoc Gallery, London
* 2004 ''Paint London'', Candid Arts Trust, London
* 2003 ''Studio/Show'', Hunter Studios, New York

Solo exhibitions

2019
* Upcoming, Göteborgs Konsthall, Göteborg, Sweden
2018
* ''She Summons an Army'', EXPO Chicago
* ''The Lizards Within Us'', fourFOLD at Enclave, Deptford
* ''Take Me to the Lighthouse'', Sapar Contemporary, New York
2017
* ''For Every Real Word Spoken'', Tiwani Contemporary
2007
*''REPRESENT'', Al Riwaq Gallery, Bahrain www.alriwaqartspace.com
*''Bahrainona'', Bahrain National Museum, Bahrain

Awards

* 2021 - Lumière Award of the Royal Photographic Society.
* 2017 - winner, $20,000 Special Prize by the Future Generation Art Prize at the 2017 Venice Biennale
* 2012 - £30,000 Sky Academy Arts Scholarship

References

External links

*
*
nationalgallery.org.ukBest of Herd, Nick Bradshaw's review of the British Animation Awards Public Choice, BFI Sight & SoundFlash CS5 for Designers, by Tom Green and Tiago Dias, published by Friends of EDFeeling Inspired? Emer Grant's review of the Inspired Art Fair, NY Arts Magazinebahrainembassy.orggulfweeklyworldwide.comsmileforlondon.comtumblr.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boswell, Phoebe
1982 births
People educated at Hurtwood House
Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art
Alumni of Central Saint Martins
Living people