Emma Talbot

b. 1969  Stourbridge, lives and works in London and Italy

Selkie: Every Dream of the Future Calls You to Return, 2025

Seaweed Ink and Acrylic on Silk and Recycled Silk 
160x110cm 

Price: £13,000
Deposit: £1,300
 

"The visit to Scotland, with Artwise and WWF, to research Seaweed production was incredibly interesting for me. In my work, I’ve explored subjects around ecology, sustainability, developing considered relationships with nature and permaculture. I’ve also researched and used recycled and natural materials in my work, so the prospect of learning more about Seaweed-it’s properties and potential uses, really intrigued me. 

My research has previously been bound to earthly terrain-to extend it to ocean health and conservation was literally opening another realm. Skye and Oban are also in a magical area of the UK I’ve long wanted to visit, and thought about a lot, when researching Celtic myths for a show in Dundee a few years ago. 

The programme for the trip was packed with first hand experience - to seaweed farms out at sea and start-up processing plants where we saw the transformation of raw, harvested seaweed to a material with exponential applications. 

As an artist, the development of Seaweed ink was especially fascinating - it’s a medium that I could immediately apply to my practice. It’s interesting to consider the ways artistic practices are able to adapt to the urgencies and emergencies of their times, (in this case by applying direct reconnections with the natural world as a part of 21st 

century contemporary art production) as well as raising awareness of the efforts that are being made in the determination to forge a viable future."  - Emma Talbot

^{Image Copyright the Artist. Photo by Matthew Hollow. Portrait by Bruno Cattani}