Rebecca Parkin’s fictional cycles focus on the female figure of subversion and enchantment. Popular depictions become a source from which to survey and negotiate the ever changing experience women have between themselves and their colourful cultural counterparts. She focuses on facial expression with her imaginary portraits, presenting them as curious, beguiling, assertive and knowing; they operate in a metafictional universe aware of their cultural and historical significance. Characters like the witch and the mermaid are re-evaluated as empowered yet complex figures which occupy a liminal space in the modern world. Through a kind of creative anthropology, narratives from popular culture, mythology, art history and social fantasy are stirred together into a strange stew, both familiar and reconfigured.
Rebecca Parkin gained the Basil Alkazzi Scholarship at The Royal College of Art and graduated in 2009. She also attended Turps Painting School (off-site) 2020-2021. Recent exhibitions include: Pourquoi, Gertrude and Canopy Collection, London. ‘Bitch Magic’, Alma Pearl, London. Gertrude Presents, Truman Brewery, London. Invites series -The Cult of the Green Women, Zabludowicz Collection, London. The Blue, The Pink The Immaterial, The Void, The Austrian Cultural Forum, London. Once Upon A Time, 23-25 Chiltern Street, London. Blink, Safe House 1, London, 2022. New Contemporaries 2021, First Site, Colchester and South London Gallery, London. She currently practices from her studio in north London.
Articles>
Spotlight interview championed by Will Jarvis. The Wick. By Veronika Kailich. 2023 > thewickculture.com
A real Horror Show: The Creepy and Uncanny in the Capital. Go with Yamo Blog. By Jelena Sofronijevic. 2022 > gowithyamo.com
The Cult of the Green Women. Interview with Julia Greenway 2022 > zabludowiczcollection.com
Turning B-movie Schlock Horror into a feminist critique. Creative Boom. Written by Fiona Keating 2023. > creativeboom.com
Sister, Siren, Gorgon, Witch! Salome Salmacis Art Salon. Interview by Fay Nicolson. 2022 > salomesalmacis.com
Green Skinned Trickery by Rebecca Parkin. Arty. Issue no.41. Article. Publication by Cathy Lomax. 2022. > artymagazine.com
Art Maze Mag issue no.29. 2022. > artmazemag
Art Yellow Book. #2. Curated by Leejin Kim > artyellowbook