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A hanging artwork on the right hand side of the image has watercolour figures and writing. To the left of the image can be seen another hanging work strung across the gallery. On a small wooden plinth to the left hand side of the image is a textile work.

Emma Talbot

Ghost Calls

28 April - 8 August 2021

This major exhibition debuted a new series of works developed for DCA by British artist Emma Talbot, drawing together the diverse facets of her practice to create a new, painterly world in the gallery for audiences to step into.

Talbot’s work explores visual autobiography in a truly unique way. Through drawing, painting, animation and three-dimensional making, she articulates internal narratives as visual poems or associative ruminations, based on her own experience, memories and psychological projections.

A drawing on a white wall shows a figure with long hair posed on a series of rocks and a tree to their right. The figure has no eyes and the drawing is stylised with bands of muted pastel colours in concentric rings. The figure appears to be mourning.

Incorporating her own writing and references to other literary and poetic sources, Talbot combines painted text, figurative depiction, mark-making and pattern to shift the registers and readings of her work between the symbolic and the everyday. The imagery in her work is direct and hand-drawn, resulting in immediate, open, inventive representations of what is seen in the mind’s eye.

The relationship between the physical presence of the work and the fleeting nature of the subject is considered through particular materials: drawings on thin, hand-made papers are folded and painted works are made directly onto silk, which is sewn in sections to make hangings and installations. Her most recent three-dimensional pieces are constructed by hand with simple processes, such as papier-mâché, and stitched soft forms. Talbot will be exhibiting a new series of these works accompanied by further sound and animation pieces in the gallery.

Talbot’s work considers complex issues such as feminist theory and storytelling; ecopolitics and the natural world; and pertinent questions regarding our shifting relationships to technology, language and communication. For this exhibition, when our world was more uncertain than ever, Talbot imagines future environments where humankind has been flung out of a capitalist-driven society of digital technologies and must look towards more ancient and holistic ways of crafting, making and belonging to survive.

Artist Interview | Emma Talbot on Ghost Calls

A close up of a textile work on a wooden plinth, with a stooping figure to the right and a cave like structure to the left, the outside of which is grey wool and the inside is painted with purple, orange and shiny green.

About the artist

Emma Talbot (b. 1969, UK) studied at the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design and the Royal College of Art. She currently holds the post of Tutor in Painting at the Royal College of Art’s School of Arts and Humanities.

Her work has previously been exhibited at Eastside Projects, Birmingham; Arcadia Missa, New York; GEM Kunstmuseum, The Hague; Petra Rinck Galerie, Düsseldorf; Turner Contemporary, Margate; Drawing Room, London, The Freud Museum; London; Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam; Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen and Tate St. Ives, Cornwall.

In March 2020 she was awarded the 8th Max Mara Prize for Women in collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery London and Maramotti Foundation Italy, and through this award is working towards a solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2021/22. She is represented by Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam and Petra Rinck Galerie, Düsseldorf.

Exhibition Notes

 Listen to an audio version of the Exhibition Notes for Emma Talbot: Ghost Calls here.

Emma Talbot: Exhibition Notes

Click here to download the Exhibition Notes for Emma Talbot: Ghost Calls
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Exhibition images

To the left hand side are three plinths with a textile artworks. A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hanging monitor shows a moving image work. The image is colourful, mainly orange and green, and includes drawings and text.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
Two plinths with textile artworks can be seen: one close up on the left, and one far away to the right. They show figures and trees, in muted colours.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
Three small works on paper can be seen on a white wall to the left of the image. To the right is a wooden plinth with a textile sculpture. In the sculpture is a figure with their head bend to the left, and on the right is a tree-like form with six lumpy branches. The colours are mainly muted pinks, yellows and greens.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A close up of a textile sculpture, with a figure bending down to a black dog on the right. On the left is a tree. The fabric pieces are mounted on a painted board which is mainly pink and red.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
An installation image showing large hanging artworks in muted colours.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. A monitor hangs from the ceiling to the back right. In the foreground right is a plinth with a textile piece and another can be seen behind it on the far right. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the left. A monitor hangs from the ceiling on the right. At the back is a plinth with a textile piece and on the back wall in the distance are two works on paper. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. In the foreground is a plinth with a textile piece. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
To the left hand side are three plinths with a textile artworks. A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hanging monitor shows a moving image work. The image is colourful, mainly orange and green, and includes drawings and text.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
Two plinths with textile artworks can be seen: one close up on the left, and one far away to the right. They show figures and trees, in muted colours.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
Three small works on paper can be seen on a white wall to the left of the image. To the right is a wooden plinth with a textile sculpture. In the sculpture is a figure with their head bend to the left, and on the right is a tree-like form with six lumpy branches. The colours are mainly muted pinks, yellows and greens.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A close up of a textile sculpture, with a figure bending down to a black dog on the right. On the left is a tree. The fabric pieces are mounted on a painted board which is mainly pink and red.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
An installation image showing large hanging artworks in muted colours.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. A monitor hangs from the ceiling to the back right. In the foreground right is a plinth with a textile piece and another can be seen behind it on the far right. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the left. A monitor hangs from the ceiling on the right. At the back is a plinth with a textile piece and on the back wall in the distance are two works on paper. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. In the foreground is a plinth with a textile piece. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
To the left hand side are three plinths with a textile artworks. A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hanging monitor shows a moving image work. The image is colourful, mainly orange and green, and includes drawings and text.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
Two plinths with textile artworks can be seen: one close up on the left, and one far away to the right. They show figures and trees, in muted colours.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
Three small works on paper can be seen on a white wall to the left of the image. To the right is a wooden plinth with a textile sculpture. In the sculpture is a figure with their head bend to the left, and on the right is a tree-like form with six lumpy branches. The colours are mainly muted pinks, yellows and greens.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A close up of a textile sculpture, with a figure bending down to a black dog on the right. On the left is a tree. The fabric pieces are mounted on a painted board which is mainly pink and red.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
An installation image showing large hanging artworks in muted colours.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. A monitor hangs from the ceiling to the back right. In the foreground right is a plinth with a textile piece and another can be seen behind it on the far right. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the left. A monitor hangs from the ceiling on the right. At the back is a plinth with a textile piece and on the back wall in the distance are two works on paper. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.
A hung textile work with watercolour painting and graphic text hangs to the right. In the foreground is a plinth with a textile piece. The colours are muted and soft, the gallery is naturally lit and bright.
Photograph by Ruth Clark.

Gallery Walkthrough | Emma Talbot: Ghost Calls