This is the first monograph on the London-born, Devon-based artist Jacqui Hallum. The publication documents Hallum's solo exhibition at The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (10 October 2019 - 1 March 2020), along with a series of solo, two-person and group exhibitions held between 2014 and 2020. Hallum is best-known for her mixed-media paintings on textiles - techniques she has developed and refined over the course of twenty years since completing her studies. Incorporating imagery and visual languages ranging from medieval woodcuts and stained-glass windows to Art Nouveau children's illustrations, tarot cards and Berber rugs, Hallum employs ink staining, painting, drawing and printing to create layers of pattern, abstraction and passages of figurative imagery. As part of her working process, Hallum often leaves the fabrics in the open air, exposed to the elements, in order to introduce weathering into the works. History, religion, mysticism and the beliefs and creativity of past civilisations are among the themes that overlap - often in a literal sense of pieces of fabrics layered, pinned, draped and hung together - to form painterly palimpsests that carry a sense of the past with them into the present. Along with a foreword by Professor Caroline Wilkinson, Director of the School of Art and Design at Liverpool John Moores University, and an introductory essay by artist, curator and director of Kingsgate Workshops and Project Space in London, Dan Howard-Birt, the publication features newly commissioned essays by arts journalist and critic Hettie Judah and by Andrew Hunt, Professor of Fine Art and Curating at the University of Manchester. Also featured is the edited transcript of a conversation between Hallum and Howard-Birt held at The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Jacqui Hallum (b.1977, London) graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Coventry School of Art & Design, Coventry University, in 1999, and an MFA in Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London, in 2002. Hallum's solo exhibition at The Walker Art Gallery followed a three-month fellowship at Liverpool John Moores University, which resulted from winning the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize in 2018. 158 illustrations
Author Biography:
Jacqui Hallum (b.1977, London) is an artist based in Totnes, Devon, UK. She graduated with a BA from Coventry School of Art and Design, Coventry University, in 1999, and an MA from the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London, in 2002. She was the winner of the 2018 John Moores Painting Prize. Dan Howard-Birt is an artist, curator and director of Kingsgate Workshops and Project Space, London. He teaches at Camberwell College of Arts and is a mentor with Turps Art School, London. Hettie Judah is chief critic on The i, a columnist for Apollo magazine, a contributing editor to The Plant, and writes regularly for the Guardian, Vogue, Frieze and the New York Times. Recent books include Lapidarium (Penguin, 2022), How Not to Exclude Artist Mothers (and other parents) (Lund Humphries, 2022), and Frida Kahlo (Laurence King, 2020). Andrew Hunt is a curator and writer based in London and Manchester. He is currently Professor of Fine Art and Curating at Manchester Metropolitan University. Professor Caroline Wilkinson is an anthropologist and Director of the School of Art and Design at Liverpool John Moores University.
