• Certificate in Drawing & Visual Investigation

Jennie Ridyard

The Nature of the City

I wanted to explore the nature of the city – both literally and figuratively. The city is organic: it cannot control its nature, its inhabitants, the creatures that prowl its shadows, and the plant-life bursting through the cracks. I took my inspiration from these wild forces, the foxes, crows, weeds, and the elements themselves – the light, the rain, the shadows at night.
I looked to artists who’d walked the city streets before me; I experimented with the fluidity of ink, the rigour of straight lines, and layers of paper. By ceding control and letting the materials guide me, I came to understand that our manmade cities are nevertheless curated by the ungovernable forces of nature, from underneath, from above, from within.