Amelia Crouch    

ABOUT        

Amelia Crouch works variously in video, audio, text, photographic imagery, drawing and painting. Across these media a frequent characteristic of her work is the combination of images and words. She is interested in differences in how visual and verbal media address a viewer and in the importance played by representational structures in the creation of self and social identity. How do representations impact on our self-understanding and relationships with others? How does where we're from and what we see impact upon the life narratives that we create?

Recent works use written language to evoke visual images, exploring how image and language aren't always distinct but intermingle in processes of fantasy and interpretation. Although the human body is never visually represented the works are frequently figurative, representing human actions and interactions. Depicted urban and suburban environments function as both a stage set for potential encounters and as a metaphor for the encounters themselves. Moreover 'place' is understood to be an important constituent of identity, giving us a sense of where we do or don't belong.

Recurring themes include the relationship between looking and language, both in representations of the body and in terms of our consumer culture where we are enticed to imagine and purchase a 'better' life.