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From looking at Emma Talbot‘s art, you would assume she’s been exhibiting her work for decades.
Yet she’s just been awarded the Max Mara Art Prize for Women – a prize given only to UK based women artists who have never had a major solo exhibition.
Talbot, chosen as the winner by a panel of art experts, works in multiple mediums – from drawing and painting to sculpture and immersive installations. Her winning proposal for the prize investigates positions of power and the representation of women through a personal lens – taking Gustav Klimt’s 1905 work Three Ages of Woman as a starting point.
We speak to Emma to find out her plans for her upcoming Italian residency, and how she fuses the classical and modern worlds together through her art.
What does winning the prize mean to you?
This is an amazing prize, for women at a crucial point in their career. For me it’s a turning point – as a widowed, single parent, I’ve been balancing studio time with working to support my family for years.
I had just reached a stage where I needed to concentrate fully on my own work, but it seemed like a huge risk.
The prize will support me to do that and give me the time and means to really develop and expand my work, as well as the exciting opportunity to exhibit at The Whitechapel Gallery and Collezione Maramotti in Italy.
How do you intend to marry modern day with classical mythology?
I’m interested in the way story-telling can make us reflect on our own lives and situation. I have proposed to develop narrative work, with an elderly woman as the protagonist in two concurrent narratives, set in the past and the future.
One of the questions in my work is ‘what if power was put to different uses?’ and this narrative of reorienting power is intended to convey a message about our contemporary world and how we can redefine who is powerful, what is important and how power is exercised.
How do you think antiquities and classical tales maintain relevance in today’s society?
I started noticing how the references to the classics were re-emerging in political terms and in popular narratives.
A clear example is when Boris Johnson referred to Brexit as a ‘Herculean Task’, which might seem an innocuous reference by a classics scholar, but it reminded me of the ways the classics have historically been used to support the rhetorics of power, as if they provide an absolute and unshakable foundation.
It becomes quite alarming when you start to pick it apart and think about what that really suggests about who holds power and how power is considered and projected.
What is it that draws you to different mediums of art?
Different modes of making can convey ideas in different ways. Sometimes a smaller drawing on paper captures an idea fully and that lightness or simplicity is all that is needed. Other times I need to put together much more complicated narrative.
The three-dimensional work is made when I want an idea, something intangible, to become something physically present. I also use sound, to convey an atmosphere in installations.
What’s your advice to artists that are just starting out now?
I’d also say trust yourself, your instincts and your own thoughts. Make what you want, don’t judge yourself too quickly, keep thinking, keep going – making art matters.
How has London influenced your work?
I never get bored of exploring London or living and working here. I guess the city influences my work in multiple ways – from the art see and the people I meet to the unusual materials I find in the independent shops in my local high street in Walthamstow.
Does art give you greater freedom in confronting more political and potentially contentious issues?
Yes, definitely. Art is a thinking space for both artist and viewer – so it allows me to set up situations where political or contentious issues are repositioned so that a reflective critique is revealed, and share questions I have with an audience.
What does your studio look like?
My studio is a space in an old factory in E17. The storage is mostly out of sight, in a separate part of the studio, so it’s essentially a white box which transforms depending on what I’m making – painted silk pinned all around the walls, or large tables set up for three dimensional making and sewing.
Coming up to shows, it can be ram-packed with work in process and then it’s a relief when it empties out again.
What will your process be in creating your final piece for the Max Mara prize?
I’m still at the research stage, and have a six-month residency to look forward to, to develop my ideas. I’m going to be looking at Etruscan pottery in Rome, visiting archives of 20th century Italian painted silk, researching permaculture and the volcanic terrain in Sicily and learning to machine knit with experts in Reggio Emilia
How are you prepping for moving to Italy?
I’ve got deadlines to meet before I go, but I’ll be packing up my studio and organising the materials I’ll need to take. Planning the residency has been such an exciting process and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m determined to learn some Italian, so I’ve begun memorising the most used words!
