Artist Statement
As an artist who's own family history has a story of migration to the UK, and as an avid walker drawn to verdant rural spaces, I am fascinated by the myth of the English landscape as the visual epitome of Englishness. These ‘green and pleasant lands’—shaped over centuries—are not only deeply entwined with the country’s ingrained class system but are also highly collaged vistas, composed of flora and fauna gathered from across the globe.
My work focuses on the English gardens of stately homes, landscapes of undeniable beauty yet deeply rooted in complex histories. Many of these idyllic spaces were shaped by colonialism, funded by profits from the slave trade, or cultivated as symbols of power. While acknowledging their past, I also explore their present and future: How can these spaces be reframed to address painful histories? How might they contribute to ecological healing in the face of climate change? And how can they serve as sites for discussion that highlight the UK's deeply rooted diversity?
Painting itself is as central to my practice as the narratives I explore. I develop landscapes that merge real and imagined places—reflecting both their dark beauty and their layered, constructed existence as ‘idylls’ of the natural world. Working with oil paint and linseed oil, I employ techniques of removal, corrosion, and distortion using solvents. These moments of decay—the drip of paint allowed to run, the alchemical reactions of seeping and distortion—mirror the fragility of nature and the darker elements, the chaos beneath the order, and the histories embedded in these landscapes.
Transience is a key theme in my work. Flashes of exposed white canvas interrupt the painted surface, suggesting an incomplete, ever-changing landscape. I refrain from introducing white paint to the palette, and instead achieve luminosity through the removal of pigment—creating light by stripping away darkness. This process intensifies the imagery, as trees, skies, and grounds glow with translucence, dissolving the boundaries between past, present, and future within each painting.
My work focuses on the English gardens of stately homes, landscapes of undeniable beauty yet deeply rooted in complex histories. Many of these idyllic spaces were shaped by colonialism, funded by profits from the slave trade, or cultivated as symbols of power. While acknowledging their past, I also explore their present and future: How can these spaces be reframed to address painful histories? How might they contribute to ecological healing in the face of climate change? And how can they serve as sites for discussion that highlight the UK's deeply rooted diversity?
Painting itself is as central to my practice as the narratives I explore. I develop landscapes that merge real and imagined places—reflecting both their dark beauty and their layered, constructed existence as ‘idylls’ of the natural world. Working with oil paint and linseed oil, I employ techniques of removal, corrosion, and distortion using solvents. These moments of decay—the drip of paint allowed to run, the alchemical reactions of seeping and distortion—mirror the fragility of nature and the darker elements, the chaos beneath the order, and the histories embedded in these landscapes.
Transience is a key theme in my work. Flashes of exposed white canvas interrupt the painted surface, suggesting an incomplete, ever-changing landscape. I refrain from introducing white paint to the palette, and instead achieve luminosity through the removal of pigment—creating light by stripping away darkness. This process intensifies the imagery, as trees, skies, and grounds glow with translucence, dissolving the boundaries between past, present, and future within each painting.
To read more on Twinkle's background, including collaborations with artist Tinsel Edwards, you can read the essay Affluence and Avarice by painter Graham Crowley here.