Just like this gif, my website is a bit slow and outdated! Please come back later in the year to see more of my projects and works.
In the meantime: Follow my instagram for more up to date posts
Or keep scrolling down to see a small selection of past projects
Thrilled to work with Izzy Parker to curate her exhibition with Bethlem Gallery ‘Making Emotions’.
Izzy has been working in collaboration with neuroscientist Dr Gemma Modinos to explore if creative making can help us identify and process difficult emotions.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the exhibition has been moved online: http://bethlemgallery.com/making-emotions
I’m running a workshop 💊💊💊 as part of Antiuniversity festival in September!
💊 Join me at Turf Projects in Croydon on the 10th Sept from 3-5pm to make your own #PillPacketPottery
💊 We’ll explore some basic clay building techniques such as slab building and coiling, and experiment with markmaking with old pill packets - please bring yours along!
💊 This workshop is for all levels of clay experience (beginner to more advanced than me!) but I’m primarily hoping to work with people who have experienced medical trauma. This will be a safe space to discuss your experience with doctors and medication. We’re aiming for a collaboratively healing environment where we can start to process these experiences. I’ll talk about the #PillPacketPottery project and we’ll (hopefully) make something decorative or functional with these old pill packets.
💊 Spaces are free but limited. Sign up on eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pill-packet-pottery-tickets-401620998217
‘a tiny white pill keeps you afloat’ in Murze magazine, issue 11 (March/April 2020)
‘the ice cubes don’t work’, 2020
Watercolour and glue on canvas.
workspace as self-portrait. april 2020
my little home studio in the depths of the first covid lockdown
Outcomes from Ghosts of Croydon walking tours, February 2020 in association with Turf Projects, Croydon Council, and Charles Holland Architects
Ghosts of Croydon workshops, February 2020 in association with Turf Projects, Croydon Council, and Charles Holland Architects
my face when the people who commissioned me to give a talk about Croydon criticise my views about Croydon
usually at the beginning of a new year, we’re looking ahead... looking at new habits, new opportunities, new goals and new experiences we may be faced with. i don’t personally set resolutions, per se, but i usually think of a few things i want to accomplish, or set an intention or two for the year ahead.
as we all know, anything i had set out to do in 2020 quickly got set aside (i said i wanted to visit five new countries - little did i know i wouldn’t even leave england for two whole years)! and going into 2021, i wasn’t able to look past the first month, just needing to find somewhere to live and somewhere to work because our lease was up and my bank account was completely wiped after three months of unemployment.
this year is different. i spent the first few days doing, well, nothing and everything. getting around to a bunch of tasks i kept putting off, like organising my room and putting the countless photos, travel tickets and other whatevers i found into scrapbooks. i also consumed my weight in vegan pigs-in-blankets and aldi brand baileys 😅 and got through most of my netflix watchlist.
i spent the next few days on a sunny spanish island, swam every day and sunned myself and finally had a chance to let my body rest and reset. and then it was back to real life, work and responsibility and everything that comes with it.
on the last day of our holiday, we flew over to another island, partly to explore a bit more and partly to see an old friend i haven’t seen for five or so years. on the short plane ride over i found myself very nervous, and couldn’t figure out why - i had no reason to be nervous to see an old friend! she had arranged her busy day to take a quick beach break to see us! why was i nervous? my cousin pointed out the last time i saw her i was 18 years old, and a very very different person. and suddenly it made sense, and we were able to meet up, have a great time, and hopefully it won’t be another five years til i see her!
but on the plane home to London i thought a lot about teenage rosie and the last time i had seen my friend. i was pre-diagnosis, pre-treatment, pre-figuring out a lot of things about myself and how i function, especially socially. i was finishing off college and figuring out what to do next. i had a whole wide world ahead of me and absolutely no idea how to navigate it. some days (most days), it was a struggle just getting out of bed. some days i got out of bed and made it to college or work or wherever in a haze, with no control over my actions, like i was being controlled by someone else. i had no idea what my triggers were, or even what a trigger really was. i was in insane pain almost every day and just trying to carry on like everything was normal.
these days... it’s still hard to get out of bed. some weeks are fine and other weeks i feel superglued to the mattress. but i’ve spent the beginning of this new year (or the arbitrary time we attribute to a new year) thinking about looking back, not just forward, and reminding myself of progress made, and not just progress left to make. i’m in between treatments at the moment, and eager to move on and take the next steps in my recovery. but i’m reminded that just like the artistic process, recovery is cyclical, and waxes and wanes. my recovery is and will be ongoing. and as such it’s important to remind myself of how far i’ve come.
one thing that hasn’t changed since then is using art to decipher and translate complicated feelings. this is something i’ve always done, before i even understood what i was doing. i didn’t choose to work in the arts for a living. i’m just unable to do anything else. i’m fortunate i can make half a living off it but even if i couldn’t, i’d still be drawing, writing, singing sad little songs and collecting pill packets for no reason other than i can’t seem to throw them away. at the beginning of the year i spent a lot of time sorting through old artworks, and as part of my practice this year i’ll be revisiting works i did in the past and incorporating them into my new work. here’s a selection of a few drawings i found while clearing out my room last month.
here’s to looking forward, looking back, and making art.
Ghosts of Croydon workshops, February 2020 in association with Turf Projects, Croydon Council, and Charles Holland Architects
‘come & gone’ live at Articulate at Bermondsey Project Space, 23.01.2020
performing at Bermondsey Project Space as part of Articulate spoken word event, 23.02.2020
‘hard 2 love’ at Sad Gxrl Sorority 21st December 2019
by Teenage Grandma feat Mei-Li
Dutch Gold at Sad Gxrl Sorority, Vol 1, 21.12.2019
SAD GXRL SORORITY ✨ showcase vol. 1. 21 Dec 2019
✨ Sad Gxrl Sorority is a project bridging the gap between fine art and music and aiming to address the inequalities in the music business for emerging musicians identifying as woman or non-binary.
The SGS showcase highlights the best in the local talent of South London. Volume One took place in LOFT, Croydon Arts Store, one rainy Thursday evening in December ‘19, and featured Mei-Li, Mandisa Apena as Dutch Gold, and Rosie Mills Eckmire as Teenage Grandma.
Curated by Rosie Mills Eckmire.
Original illustration for sale at Northern Contemporary, Toronto, in “Under 💯”, December 2019
This is available as a print on my shop too!
‘Time/Place/Here/Now’, a collaborative risograph zine made with Holly Graham and participants at Bethlem Gallery.
November 2019
