The Conundrum, hand embroidery on found photograph

Julie Cockburn is a London-based artist whose current body of work explores antique photographs and abstract interventions. The artist often layers colourful geometric compositions over black and white portraits and other found art pieces to bring new relevance to obsolete artefacts. 

Honeymoon Period 7, hand embroidery on found photograph

The aesthetics of Cockburn’s recent works are reminiscent in many ways of John Baldessari pieces. The bright colours and simple shapes could event hearken to Damien Hirst’s dot paintings, though Cockburn’s images take a more immediate conceptual approach. 

I appreciate the way that Cockburn uses techniques drawn from arts and crafts and sewing practices to embellish some of her works. The use of embroidered elements on photographs, for example, seems to express a reverence for the era from which the photographs hail, a nod toward the types of labour that the subjects of such photographs would have likely participated in. In this way, the artist fosters a sense of familiarity with the subjects of her artworks.

Mindfulness 1, altered found photographer