For our next HOME Projects commission we’ve invited artist Victoria Lucas to showcase her work investigating connections between gender and geographical place in Lay of the Land (And Other Such Myths). To learn more about what inspires her, we put Victoria in the spotlight…
Victoria Lucas’s new HOME Projects gallery looks at the connections between gender and geographical place
What’s your earliest memory of cinema/the theatre/the arts?
VL: Cinema was, and still is, a beloved form of escape for me. I remember how moved I was as a child when I first watched E.T… the soundtrack still raises the hairs on the back of my neck actually. I think narrative and the role of cinematic storytelling has very much influenced my artistic practice.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
VL: I would invite my heroines I think. There are way too many to mention, but definitely Mary Wollstonecraft, The Brontës, Sylvia Pankhurst, Boudicca, Germaine Greer, Laura Mulvey, Michelle Obama, Frida Kahlo, Rebecca Solnit, Katharine Hepburn, Amelia Earhart and my teen idol Courtney Love. What a party that would be!
If you could go back in time, where would you go?
VL: I would like to see the Earth before the human race ruined it. I would also like to attend a Nirvana concert – probably one from the In Utero tour.
What would your super power be?
VL: I would be a Poison Ivy / Caroline Lucas hybrid.
If you were stranded on a desert island, what one book/piece of music would you take?
VL: Concrete Island by JG Ballard, as a reminder that things could always be worse.
What has been your most difficult achievement?
VL: Completing my undergraduate degree after the sudden death of my mum in my final year. I have absolutely no idea how I found the strength to do that, but I am very proud of my 21-year-old self for getting through it.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
VL: My grandad’s mottos when my sisters and I were growing up included ‘there is no such thing as can’t’ and ‘always follow your dreams’. Although simple, I always seem come back to these two comforting phrases when I have important decisions to make.
What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
VL: Definitely the occasional nü-metal binge.
When you’re not at work, where are you most likely to be found?
VL: Walking in my local park with my fiancé and twelve year old dog Buster, or at home with the fire on.
Victoria Lucas Lay of the Land (And Other Such Myths) opens on Friday 27 Jan and runs until Sunday 2 April.
