Anna Barriball

Working across a range of mediums, Anna Barriball (b. 1972, Plymouth) investigates how the aesthetics of everyday objects, from brick walls to windows, can be reimagined or transformed in unexpected ways. Much of her work generates a dialogue between surface and image, or appearance and sculptural form.

Light, memory and the history of photography are some of the abiding themes in her practice; examining the effect of light as it passes through and around objects, casting fleeting shadows and evoking distinct atmospheres. Barriball is interested in trying to capture or document such moments and reflections in her drawings, conscious too of the physicality of the materials she employs. In her most recent drawings, such as Studio window (blue fade) (2023-24) she recreates the effect of light as it passes through her studio window, referencing early image making techniques such as cyanotypes. These works are made by dusting powdered pastel onto paper, coating it in molten wax and are constructed in layers. In the smaller drawings such as the Seascape series (2022-23), where Barriball tries to capture the ever-changing light and tones of a seascape, the semi-translucent coloured, waxed papers are layered onto a drawing made with graphite powder on paper.

The labour-intensive process transports each drawing into the sculptural realm, the surfaces preserving the mark of the artist’s hand in a fingerprint. Video is also a key medium for the artist, often employing colouring techniques of early cinema. Whether in still or time-based mediums, Barriball has an ongoing interest in how temporality, memory and the mechanics of sight all interact.