Her own work depicts dystopian scenes and post-apocalyptic urban ruins. Taking her immediate habitat as inspiration, Ford makes work that imagines a future London which simultaneously sifts through the detritus of history. She weaves in narratives and personal histories, both her own and others occupying the same territory through past, present and future, resulting in an examination of London through different lenses. Semiotic ghosts haunt the desolate landscapes depicted in ballpoint pen, fluorescent spray paint and acrylic.
Since 2005 Ford has been making a zine called 'Savage Messiah' which uses apocalyptic language and imagery to create a sense of prescience and unease. Religious references are recuperated to scry into Britain's socio-economic future. Responding to the gentrification, or 'yuppification', of east London, Ford wishes to activate the past in order to conjure up a different future of ruptures in the smooth space of late capitalism.
Ford, originally from Halifax, West Yorkshire, completed a Fine Art Painting MA at The Royal College of Art in 2007 and has since become well known for her politically active and poetic engagement with London as a site of social antagonism.
In one sense the drawings allow for a chronicling of a disappearing London, and she has recently produced over a hundred ballpoint pen drawings as part of an ongoing project chronicling the impact of regeneration on London, 2013, Drifting through the ruins.
The drawings form a broken narrative, focusing on the part of east London currently being cleared for the 2012 Olympic site. Ford has made many walks through these abandoned areas and imagines them populated by the semiotic ghosts of failed utopias in the year 2013.
She writes on her website 'The London I conjure up in these drawings is imbued with a sense of mourning. These are the liminal zones where the free party rave scene once illuminated the bleak swathes of marshland and industrial estates'.
This series, which began in December 2008, aims to generate fresh perspectives on the art in Tate Britain’s displays. In dialogue with key art works, themes such as modernity, class, post-colonialism and aesthetics are tackled by artists from cross-cultural and trans-disciplinary viewpoints. Here’s the Cross Cultural Curator, Paul Goodwin, to say a bit more about it…
And here's some information about previous Conversation Pieces:
Ingrid Pollard on Landscape Wednesday 10 December 2008, 14.00–15.00 Artist and photographer Ingrid Pollard reflects upon her artistic practice in conversation with key landscape works from Tate Britain’s collection displays.
Susan Stockwell Transforming the Everyday Thursday 5 February 2009, 14.00-15.30 Sculptor Susan Stockwell responds to themes of trade, mapping, recycling and re-appropriation both in her own work and key works in the collection.
Raimi Gbadamosi Race, Power and Language Thursday 12 March 2009, 14.00-15.30 Artist and theorist Raimi Gbadamosi asks crucial questions of race, language and power, referring to both the Tate Collection and his own practice: ‘What do I do?’, ‘What did they do?’ and ‘What do we all do now?’
Maria Kheirkhah: The Anatomy of Ignorance. Part III 1001 Questions Thursday 23 April 2009, 14.00-15.30 Installation and performance artist Maria Kheirkhah discusses issues around the relationship between artists, artworks and audiences within specific institutional and cultural contexts.
Nada Prlja Return of the Red Bourgeoisie Friday 15 May 2009. 14.00-15.30 Yugoslavian artist Nada Prlja’s art historical education was illustrated by crude black and white reproductions or photocopies of many works from the Tate Collection, here she revisits these works through her memories of growing up as part of the ‘red bourgeoisie’.
Leo Asemota Beyond Portraiture Wednesday 3 June 2009, 14.00-15.30 Artist Leo Asemota explains how his practice, and The Ens Project, expands traditions of portraiture through the complex layering of history, culture, memory and identity.
