Rebecca Harper

Between two worlds
2018
Acrylic on Canvas
180 x 215cm

How long have you had a studio at APT?
Over three years now. I arrived at APT straight out of Turps Art School where I was fortunate enough to have been awarded a one-year studio residency at the Ryder project space in 2018. I was then fortunate enough to be accepted for a permanent space at APT following on from that. 

Which female artists inspired you growing up?
The backdrop for me was early on in college is where I first started to really find out about female artists, In 2006 I was looking at the likes of Sophie Calle, Kara Walker, Cindy Sherman, Tracy Emin and Louise Bourgeois.  

I remember being struck by Sophie Calle's display of vulnerability within her practice as she examined identity and intimacy, where she played an investigative voyeur, and there seemed to be this unveiling of her character as much as the portrait one who is scrutinised, examined, and followed. She blurs the boundaries between the public and the private reality and fiction, art, and life, all of which are areas to this day I am interested in within my own practice. I was interested in Bourgeois particularly as she explored ideas of ‘repairing the damage’ of themes of identity, sexuality, trauma, and memory. All these women were teasing apart their identity’s and spilling their vulnerabilities and strengths which I admire.  

What is the most important piece of advice you have been given?
Lots of great advice;

“You must be in the studio and making work regardless of waiting for the inspiration to fall on your doorstep. Making generates more ideas.”

“Don't give up, make work even if you don't feel like it!”

“It's often through the challenges lie, is where the answers may be presented.”

“Be true and authentic in your practice.”

“Don't ever compare yourself to others, just compare yourself in relation to what you achieved yesterday!”

“It’s okay to take a break too! In fact, often it enhances the work being in the world again!”