Poppy/Carpenter Lockwood BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation
I have a strong passion for fiction, character, voice and setting inform every part of my practice. I use my illustration and design work to explore nonlinear and interactive storytelling. My work stems from my collection of antiques and vintage photographs, collages of found images combined with vintage style graphic design currently my primary practice. I have used my work to explore character design and illustrating lore with limited and eclectic imagery, creating timeless and mysterious aesthetic. The work shown spans three previous projects and stems from a unified concept: Ruckenborough.
Ruckenborough is a north-east Yorkshire town, surrounded by hills and removed entirely from linear time. Ruckenborough is real, and it sure felt real while you were there, but now you've left you're not even sure you have ever heard of it. All pieces displayed here and on my archival website are artefacts of this town no one can remember, created from found photographs and imagery dating from the late 1800s to 1960. Predominantly featured in my work is the 1949-50 photo album of a woman named Valerie Bray, documenting days spent with her fiance/husband, family and friends, through small printed photos and hand written notes. My largest and most recent addition to my collection is a book of photo negatives taken by my great great Granddad Lockwood during his time in India in 1924 which I inherited from my uncle.
My work is about the connection people feel to their belongings, ephemera and photographs, and particularly the quiet mystery you feel when holding antiques. Even with information on the history of antiques there is still a void made by the distance between the memories made with the object and the time you acquired the object. This feeling of second-hand nostalgia is what I portray in my art.
