Julie Cockburn (b.1966, UK) is renowned for her creative re-imagining of found objects and vintage photographs, embellishing and reconfiguring the originals through carefully applied embroidery, montage or ceramics. Her inventive reconfigurations result in meticulously crafted contemporary artworks - each a unique piece.
Cockburn transforms still life and landscape photography through her signature interventions. Her aim is not to ‘improve’ the original photos - many of which have already been tinted and in Cockburn’s view therefore already altered by a subjective process - but rather to add another chapter to its story and continue its journey. By repeatedly layering her distinctive mask-like motifs over the subject, Cockburn creates a paradoxical un-masking, hinting at the integral character of a person or the atmosphere of a place.
In offering up her personal, visual language in dialogue with the original, Cockburn highlights that we all bring our histories and perspectives to bear as we look or ‘read’ photos, and invites the viewer to become aware of, and empowered by, their own reading and response.
