Consuelo Simpson
Dummer, Hampshire, UK
Consuelo understands making as a thoughtful, embodied dialogue with materials, where both maker and matter play active roles. Using traditional skills like netting, printmaking, bookbinding and gilding, she works predominantly with string, paper, twigs, bones and plaster, alongside found objects like hand tools and wire. Using handmade cordage and nets, Consuelo assembles sculptures and wall-mounted works that celebrate the history and memories held by orphaned objects displaced from their original context. Alongside these, prints and works on paper, often presented in book form, reflect an ongoing fascination with human ingenuity and the ubiquitous presence of string throughout history.
Artworks are always in a state of becoming. Consuelo reimagines found objects, their histories shaping the narrative. Form is always temporary, allowing the possibility of change, seeking neither perfection nor an end. Navigating the boundaries of form, Consuelo adapts ideas to the physical reality of the medium. This hands-on engagement allows a rhythm between intent and discovery, where each twist and curve reveals something unexpected.
Through her practice, Consuelo aims to capture fleeting flashes of enchantment that invite us to see the world with wonder. She seeks to celebrate those immersive moments where we feel fully present yet connected to something other.
Photographs: by the artist