Amanda Bloom
Kelshall, Hertfordshire, UK
Texture and colour are an important part of Amanda’s textile work, and she is fascinated by the juxtaposition of opposing materials; hard versus soft, sensual versus austere. Often including visceral, disturbing arrangements alongside beautiful textures and colours, which attract the viewer in, and at the same time repel or shock. Her pieces explore vulnerability, exposure, and transformation
Her Reliquaries series turns unsettling objects into delicate relics, and asks what we choose to remember, hold sacred, or let go. Her Paradoxes book pieces, influenced by sacred illuminated texts, highlights the beauty and conflict found in religious histories, while the visceral, disturbing arrangements in Spilling Her Guts and Thinking Out Loud externalises an internal world, bringing both the light and the shadow into view, and bringing the possibility of change.
Amanda’s process is organic, allowing materials to guide the direction of the work. Her art encourages viewers to pause and reflect on their own journeys, relationships, and inner worlds.
Photographs: by the artist