Nature refocused

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The Red Door Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition hosted by Scarlett Woodman and Hannah Buchanan between Wednesday, September 30 and Monday, October 12 – and the title of the exhibition “Nature Refocused” derives from both artists’ love for the Kentish countryside and their reconnection with their surroundings over lockdown.

This body of work, they explain, focuses on the changing of the seasons from early spring to summer and our deeper understanding of the landscape whilst we have been staying at home. Covering dialogues of climate change, the fragility of nature and the ever-evolving characteristics of our earth, this exhibition is a celebration of the South East, where Scarlett and Hannah have lived all their lives.

Wonder (2020) Emulsion on corrugated iron, drawing scratched into surface 67 x 143cm

Scarlett Woodman (b. 1994) collects both her imagery and her materials from her surrounding landscape. Through this process of exploration and discovery Scarlett hopes to achieve a better connection and understanding of her surrounding natural environment. Lockdown has allowed for a great amount of time for us all, and through the celebration of the Kentish countryside in her work, she hopes that the viewer will be inspired to pay more attention and care to the natural world. Scarlett uses a combination of both constructive and destructive processes in her practice including painting, drawing scratching and burning. Working mostly with reclaimed building materials, the result is always a softening. Taking these hard, harsh, heavy objects salvaged from the landscape, and transforming them with trailing branches into something that appears serene and delicate. Finding peace in the wilds of nature and displaying not only its strength, beauty and resilience, but also its fragility.

Predominantly a landscape painter, Hannah Buchanan (b. 1997) is stimulated by the impermanent nature of the seasons and an interest in biocentrism. Through oil paint, she aims to record the pulses of life emanating in the natural environment, whilst also portraying a sense of experience, memory and emotion in the colour palette and texture of the painting.

She enjoys painting in a greenhouse as her studio, as she is inspired by the greenery around her that is constantly changing through the seasons. Hannah’s recent work has evolved to bring emphasis on the current climate emergency. By reflecting on climate change through texture or in the titles of her work, she hopes the viewer will be reminded of their responsibility to be greener in the every day.

Scarlett and Hannah hope the exhibition will resonate with those that have rediscovered and reconnected with their natural surroundings during lockdown. By tackling a similar subject through two different mediums, their work acts as a reminder and a pure celebration of the beauty of nature, without forgetting its fragility and the responsibility we all have to protect it.

Image Credits: Hannah Buchanan , Scarlett Woodman .

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