WINONA O' CONNOR

Winona O' Connor

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Born in Leeds, UK

Lives & works in Edinburgh

I am a fourth year BA (Hons) Painting student at the University of Edinburgh.

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My practice involves making paintings that exist in a strange, psychologically loaded space; they are at once real, melancholy, and slightly otherworldly. They come from a place of observation, particularly of my immediate environment; then through the process of stripping back and editing down, become the essence of these places. For me, the paintings depict images entangled in intimate memory, however to the viewer they may appear universal and oddly banal, as if they could be anywhere. I have begun to use the medium of watercolours to show this, painting directly onto polycotton, which allows for no mistakes, yet yields some unexpected results. There is an element of control required, such as knowing when to let the paint bleed to create a dreamlike quality, and keeping certain areas controlled to create sections of precision and clarity.  I am interested in this materiality and this sense of the unknown when using watercolours, which opens up a new context, allowing me to re-explore the places that I once visited.