United Kingdom
Dana Sun September 10, 2020
British installation artist Rebecca Louise Law designs artwork with natural materials, namely flora. Law creates a relationship between humanity and nature, emphasizing the physicality and sensuality of the work she produces. Law’s passion for natural change and preservation, allows her work to evolve as nature takes its course and offers an alternative concept of beauty. Her dedication to sustainability in her business is ongoing and lifelong.
Mood of Living: Where did you grow up and where did you go to school?
Rebecca Louise Law: I grew up in Lode, a village just outside of Cambridge, England, and I went to school in the neighboring village, Bottisham.
MOL: Who inspired you to become and artist?
RLL: My aunt, my grandma, my uncle and my parents always encouraged me. My uncle and my aunt were art teachers. So, I think I always knew that art was an option as a career. I think having encouragement as a child made it very easy to know that this is how I could spend the rest of my life.
MOL: How and where did you get your start as an artist?
RLL: I’m not sure what the exact exhibition would have been at the starting point because I think with art, it’s a part of your life. I would say, I think my start would have been when I took the leap to leave any kind of financial security and job and go full-time into a practice of my own, which would have been around 2009. I think that was probably the point where I felt like I didn’t want to have a process. I needed to only rely on myself.
MOL: What was the financial security you were leaving behind?
RLL: I worked with flowers at Newcastle University’s School of Arts and Cultures in England and it seemed the natural progression was to learn about the flower industry. So when I finished my fine arts degree, I took employment with various florists to understand the commercial side of using a flower as a decorative material was, and how flowers were cultivated and used commercially. During my time working with a top florist in London, who employed me as an artist, I found that working with flowers that were constantly dying and not being preserved was starting to be really difficult for me. At art school every single flower I used was part of my artwork and I would preserve them, dry them and use them as an art material, so working in floristry was working against my practice. Though the financial security of that job was amazing and it was fun and we had an incredible team that worked together, in terms of my art, it felt like it was being overshadowed by a job and I was losing momentum. So I decided that it was time to leave the comfort of financial security and carry on with my practice.
2018 Community Exhibit, Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio.
MOL: What inspires you to use materials like copper and clay?
RLL: I’ve been looking at form and felt like clay was an amazing way of exploring form, and glass actually. And then I was exploring the human body and vessels — I made an exhibition called The Womb. I looked at the cocoon that we are formed in. I felt like my thinking needed to be explained. I made a huge installation of a million flowers that people could walk into. But I felt like it needed supporting work so I did about 50 canvases as well as sculptures around the concept of The Womb. Different mediums allow artists to express themselves and communicate, and I’ve enjoyed not being afraid to work with something new.
MOL: Where do you look for inspiration?
RLL: I just look outside at nature itself. I’ve recently started a diary, and I’ve been recording since November, just nature and what I see daily and how it affects me. In the last few weeks, I’ve actually started an Instagram daily video as a part of my practice because I have an exhibition coming up called Seasons and looking at the seasons in detail. That’s been really fascinating because I’ve always said that nature inspires me, and to look at my neat detail at how nature inspires me has been completely different in my practice, but amazing. Flowers and landscapes and sky and sea — it’s incredible to just open my eyes up further and look at these things that we have on this earth.
MOL: Have you always been inspired by nature?
RLL: When I was a teenager I had a moment where I realized that there was something about being completely surrounded by nature that I wanted to repeat again and again and again and again. And at that moment my eyes kind of opened to how amazing it is living on earth, when you open up your eyes to what we have around us. Before then, it was childhood and exploration, and I loved making dens or climbing up trees, but I suppose I didn’t have a sense of self or where my passion laid until I was a teenager.
2017 Life in Death Exhibit, Kew, London.
MOL: Do you ever find yourself having a creative block?
RLL: No. I have dark days, which are not creative blocks. I just will not touch anything. The only thing I’ll do is write because I know that whatever I make will be terrible. So I just write and wait for that to lift and go back to work.
MOL: How do you deal with this difficult time?
RLL: There are many thoughts going around, and something consuming me that will be stopping creativity. But often, I find that writing, which is still a creative practice, it sorts out those thoughts and puts them into place.
MOL: How does writing help you through this?
RLL: I think it’s a way of allowing yourself to sort out how you’re thinking. So by physically putting words down on paper, you’re sifting through your thoughts in your head and kind of filtering and understanding why you’re writing what you’re writing in a more clear way. Once you’ve written it all, I think that sometimes if you’re having a dark time, writing it down just brings some clarity.
MOL: Do you ever consider using anything besides nature inside of your art form?
RLL: I don’t mind working with any material, but I think I will always work with a concept of talking about our relationship as human beings of nature, so I’m happy to experiment with those materials, and obviously my passion lies in working with flowers and installation art, and I’m at a point now where I’m creating sculptures with over a million flowers and it still doesn’t feel enough, so that will continue. But on the side of that, I think the supporting work is important and it’s been nice to experiment more with making other pieces as well as the installation.
2019, The Womb, Frederick Meijer, Michigan
MOL: What exhibit are you most proud of?
RLL: I think the one in Michigan that I made in 2019 was the most intimate installation I’ve made to date. It came off the back of me having a child and I was blown away by our relationship with nature in that process and how we exist as human beings, and I felt like the intimacy of that process needed to be shown and the vulnerability of women and also to celebrate the vessel that we all come from, men and women, and have a moment to think about that. It was quite a powerful installation and I’m really proud of being able to explore something that came from a very emotional personal space, and it was quite an epic experience as well, walking into that installation.
MoL: What SDGs do you implement in your business that are helping in the positive transformation in our world?
RLL: Sustainable development goals in my business are ongoing and lifelong. I reuse everything that I can and recycle anything that I cannot. I think travel may need to have more consideration, however, I have recently reduced my team to a minimum and I use as many local and in-house staff as possible for each overseas installation. The biggest issue I have is transportation and trying to find a more effective method of getting my art and myself across the world. My team is now minimal and my art touches upon social issues entwined with nature. I am passionate about community and often use local groups within institutions to participate in making installations. I am forever learning and implementing change. Art should be for everyone and I am tired of its intimidating exclusivity.
Still Life Series. Collaboration with Tom Harford.
MoL: What are your new challenges during COVID? How do you see the art world evolving as a result in the future?
RLL: I am an artist that travels, and most of my art is international. My last installation was in Parma, Northern Italy. I installed it in February and I have been in isolation in the UK ever since. I moved from London to Snowdonia in Wales 18 months ago and I have never been so thankful for my home. All of my future projects were either canceled, postponed or reduced. I was already working on an exhibition for October that has now been moved to February 2021, so I have been occupied with working on this. It is now 3 months in isolation and I have hung onto communication through my phone that is now starting to make me feel hyper anxious. Today I decided to put down the phone and switch it off as much as possible. It doesn’t look like things will settle for a while and my viewers will benefit more from me if I concentrate on nature and my work rather than my screen. However, I have committed to posting a video of nature online each day for a year and I do believe that looking at all we are provided on earth and its beauty is healthy for the mind and soul. I think the future of art will change in relation to this time, the internet will be used more as a platform for art. Travel won’t be taken for granted and we are now fully aware of the risk of disease spreading through movement. With so many deaths and people risking their lives daily it has been a solemn time. I donated my installation in Italy to the city of Parma, with such horror surrounding it, I felt that it needed to be a place for remembrance. There has also been an awakening and awareness to unjust systems, I have felt a deep shame and pain in relation to racism and the need to support and learn. I think that as artists we need to communicate and be humble. With everything currently being so remote, I think there will be a longing for ‘place’ and I can’t wait to create my next installation and allow the viewer to have a place to be.
MoL: What advice can you give to the next generation of artists who want to make a living with their craft?
RLL: I’m not sure how many future artists will be able to have the privilege of affording to do a fine art degree. So I would say if you can afford to study art, then do it but don’t take it for granted. If you cannot afford to go to art school and you have an inner need to communicate through art, then be disciplined, and work around work. I think that everyone can have a voice but you need to work hard to be listened to. Money is not the motivation and anyone that is driven by this has an empty voice. Try not to numb yourselves with substance, live and work through pain and awkwardness. Put your energy into communicating what your heart wants you to say, with time and patience you will make a living with your craft.
Photography courtesy of Rebecca Louise Law
MasayaCo is a sustainable furniture company on a mission to combat climate change through reforestation & sustainable design.
Founded in 2013 by Melati and her sister Isabel at 10 and 12 years old, their NGO encourages people to stop using plastic bags.
Leading the Foundation’s investments in Africa, transforming food systems for children that increase access to nutritious foods.
