Alexandra Hughes is an artist with an exhibition-based practice that brings the photographic image together with sculptural material, performative gesture, and painting.
Hughes describes her processes as ‘wilding’; material-led, tactile, instinctual, disruptive, and intimate. Hughes deliberately complicates the image, creating installations that destabilise and re-create worlds: examining the boundaries of representation, material, and imagination. There is a focus in the work to reframe experiences of environments, seeking to challenge the binary of an environment ‘out there’ and a human subject ‘in here’. Fluidity is a specific felt quality that informs and describes Hughes' practice which draws out and defines notions of environments as a process understood through the expression of immersive experiences, multiple perspectives, and as a self-reflective journey that is visceral, haptic, ambiguous, and open to change.
In challenging the notion of preconceived symbols and representations as preceding our sense of the world Hughes finds resonant with the sub-genre the Feminine Sublime (Freeman 1995; Yaeger 1989): as: “not through the old-fashioned sublime of domination (a vertical sublime) but instead through a horizontal sublime…that expands towards others, spreads itself into multiplicity” (Yaeger 1989). Hughes finds further relevance to the feminist theorist Astrida Neimanis's proposition of ‘Hydro-Feminism’ which means learning from water (Neimanis 2012).
Hughes received her MFA (Fine Art Media) at The Slade School of Fine Art (2008) and PhD from Northumbria University (2019); her practice-based research entitled, Wilding Photographs: Exploring the Turbulent and Affective Qualities of the Material Phenomenon of Photography.
Solo exhibitions include: Sticky Together, Jakob Kroon Galeri, Worthing (2019), Letting Things Be Uncertain, South Hill Park, Bracknell (2017) , figuring it, Roaming ROOM Artspace, London (2016), Arrangements, Siobhan Davies Studios, London (2010).
Selected group shows include: Artists in the Field, Royal Geographical Society, London (2019), Arthouses, Whitley Bay (2019), Liquid Land, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge (2018), Materiality, Gymnasium Gallery, Berwick upon Tweed (2017), Polyspace, The NewBridge Project, Newcastle upon Tyne (2016), ROTOR, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2010), freshfacedandwildeyed09, The Photographers’ Gallery, London (2009), Voids, Corners, Plentifolds- 7.9 Cubic Metres, Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston, (2009).
Hughes recently received a commission from Newcastle Cathedral to create site-specific work Tender Kaleidescape (2022). In 2010, Hughes received a commission from Siobhan Davies - a leading choreographer and dancer. The commission was for project Rotor; an ensemble of performances, sound, installations and artworks. The resulting work was seen in a touring exhibition including, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh and Siobhan Davies Studios, London.
Hughes curated cross-disciplinary exhibition and performative symposium Assembly, Baltic 39, Newcastle upon Tyne (2018).
Past talks include: Talking Photography:Reality Check, The Photography Research Network- Birkbeck University, London (2017), Practicing the Anthropocene (with ATLAS Arts), Scottish National Galleries, Modern One, Edinburgh (2016), Artist in Conversation with Karen McQuaid (Curator, The Photographers’ Gallery), Siobhan Davies Studio, London (2010).
Hughes is a member of Ph Research Network - “a collective space for disparate thinking on photography.” See link for more info : https://www.ph-research.net/
Hughes is an artist within the Temporal School of Experimental Geography which aims include - “to explore and consider the geographic potential of artist-led fieldwork, and the experience and meaning of these practices to contribute to our collective understanding of place.” See link for more info : https://tsoeg.org/
Alexandra is an associate member of The NewBridge Project. See link: https://thenewbridgeproject.com/
See detailed CV below for further information:
Exhibitions
2022: Hinterlands, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
2022: Tender Kaleidescape, Newcastle Cathedral, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2021: NO TRACE WITHOUT RESISTANCE - CELEBRATING SALLY MADGE, Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2021: Havedrømme / Garden of Dreams, Det Voksende Værksted, Aarhus, Denmark.
2021: Bridging The Distance, Four Corners Gallery, London, UK
2020: Artist/Mum (Publication), Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2019: Sticky Together (SOLO), Jakob Kroon Galeri, Worthing, UK
2019: Artists in the Field, Royal Geographical Society, London, UK
2019: ARTHOUSES, Whitley Bay - Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2019: Shimmer (SOLO), Experimental Studios, BALTIC 39 - Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2018: Liquid Land, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, UK
2017: Assembly, WOON studio, BALTIC 39, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2017: Materiality, Lindisfarne Holy Island, Northumberland, UK
2017: Re-creation, Rochester Square, London
2017: Letting Things Be Uncertain (SOLO),South Hill Park, Bracknell, UK
2016: Materiality, Gymnasium Gallery, Berwick upon Tweed, UK
2016: Montage Table, The Northern Charter, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2016: Polyspace, The NewBridge Project, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2016: Hard Focus, ArtWork Atelier, Salford UK
2016: figuring it (SOLO), Roaming ROOM Artspace, London, UK
2015: Northern Light, SIA Gallery, Sheffield, UK
2014: COLLABORATORS 4, Roaming Room Artspace, London UK
2014: International Print Biennale, The NewBridge Project. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
2013: FotoFilmic’13, Positive Negative Gallery. Vancouver, Canada.
2013: Eulogy, Vane Gallery. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
2012: COPY, Paper Gallery. Manchester, UK.
2012: Summer Exhibition 2012, Royal Academy of Arts. London, UK
2011: Collaborators 3, R O O M Artspace. London, UK
2011: URBAN DREAMS, R O O M Artspace. London, UK
2011: DAVID BELLINGHAM / ALEXANDRA HUGHES, Furnished Space. London, UK.
2011: ROTOR, Dovecot Studios. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
2011: The Aesthetics of Art Education, CUBITT Gallery. London, UK
2010: ROTOR, The Whitworth Art Gallery. Manchester, UK
2010: Arrangements (SOLO), Siobhan Davies Studios. London, UK
2010: ROTOR, Siobhan Davies Studios. London, UK
2010: Utopia Archive, Institute of Contemporary Greek Art. Athens, Greece
2010: Sguardi e voci giovani sull'Europa, Real Academia de Espana en Roma. Italy.
2010: Trace/痕迹, Sanhe Museum. Hangzhou, China.
2010: One Minute Tree, Art and Nature projects -Pianamola Gardens. Rome, Italy.
2009: Do I Have To Paint You A Picture?, g39. Cardiff, UK.
2009: The Neutrality of this Section is Disputed, ReMap 2. Athens, Greece.
2009: freshfacedandwildeyed09,The Photographers Gallery. London, UK.
2009: Voids, Corners, Plentifolds- 7.9 Cubic Metres, Stanley Picker Gallery. Kingston, UK
2008: After the Curtain Falls, Wolstenholme Projects. Liverpool, UK
2007: TRACE, Stolzestrasse 11 Gallery. Frankfurt, Germany.
2007: TAENU, Tactile Bosch Gallery. Cardiff, UK.
Residencies
2018: BEYOND, ACA (Allenheads Contemporary Arts), Northumberland, UK
2016: figuring it, Roaming ROOM Artspace, London, UK
2013: Methods Room, University of Sunderland. Sunderland, UK
2012: Artist Residency,Kunstnerhuset. Loften, Norway
2008: Utopia Project 2008: Utopia and Praxis,- May 68-May 08, Athens School of Fine Arts. Crete, Greece.
Talks
2022: Buen Vivir: The Feminist School of Painting. BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
2018: Assembly: Critical Reflection On The Photographic Object. Baltic 39, Newcastle upon Tyne
2017: Artists in the Field, Royal Geographical Society, London
2017: Talking Photography:Reality Check, The Photography Research Network- Birkbeck University, London
2016: Hard Focus: The Physicality of Photography Symposium, ArtWork Atelier, Salford
2016: Practicing the Anthropocene , ATLAS Arts, Scottish National Galleries, Modern One, Edinburgh
2016: Northern Light Symposium, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
2015: Contemporary Photography & Traditional Processes, Northern Centre of Photography. Sunderland
2014: Artist in Conversation, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
2013: PhotoBook Market, NEPN & BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
2014: Baltic Artist Book Fair, NEPN & BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
2010: Artists' Practice Day - Camden Arts Centre, London
2010: Artist in Conversation with invited curator Karen McQuaid (The Photographers’ Gallery). Siobhan Davies Studio, London
Education
2019: PhD Fine Art (Practice-Based). University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK.
2014: MRES Fine Art (Practice-Based). University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK.
2008: MFA Fine Art. Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, UK.
2004: BA Hons Photography. The Falmouth School of Arts, Falmouth University, Cornwall, UK.