Kirstin Blake/ Summer Issue

My illustration practice centres around ideas of belonging and identity when we think about our local lands, nature, and cultures. A recent project of mine has considered how living in urban spaces vs. rural areas can have an impact on a person’s life. ‘Urban Intrusions’ slap the rural person in the face as seeming so brash, invasive, and different. These signs of the urban - such as road signs - weasel their way into rural spaces too, disrupting and dislodging the natural space.

‘The presence of litter in the countryside signals some sort of invasion, or at least indicates the presence of strangers.’ - Rosemary Shirley, 2016

This project was sparked by my move from rural Northumberland to the city centre of York in 2023 and the feelings of discomfort and disjointedness that came along with it. Fragmented and sometimes abstracted imagery from both of these places is drawn into the clothes. The material they are made from (tracing paper), if worn, would produce feelings of discomfort both with the stiffness and scratchiness and with the exposure of the wearer’s body due to the translucency of the medium.

The illustrations drawn on the garments are often bizarre, such as the sheep in a tree, upside down -this imagery reflects the confusing and uncomfortable juxtapositions between the rural and urban worlds.