Ruby Bateman
Beatrice Cenci/Freshwater, 2022
Ink on Cartridge paper
42 x 29.7 cm
Photo: Ruby Bateman
'I've made a series of paintings and drawings inspired by the photography of Julia Margaret Cameron. These artworks look back at Cameron's sensitive and tender depictions of the feminine, sacred...
'I've made a series of paintings and drawings inspired by the photography of Julia Margaret Cameron. These artworks look back at Cameron's sensitive and tender depictions of the feminine, sacred and maternal, who herself in turn looks back to the bible, folklaw and the mystic for inspiration. I really liked this concentric type of repetition, both of us drawing on the power of retrospection and the classical to create a romantic mode of storytelling. Moreover, I am continually inspired by Cameron's evocative depiction of the feminine through a female gaze, it is so quetening and empowered. She was a photographic visionary and recognised as an artist in her own time, which was almost unheard of the 19th Century.
I was thinking of calling this body of work: 'Repetitions on The Sacred and Typical''
I was thinking of calling this body of work: 'Repetitions on The Sacred and Typical''