Biography

Beatrice Haines (b. 1986 London, UK) studied an MA in Fine Art Printmaking at the Royal College of Art (2008-2010); and BA Illustration with Animation at Manchester School of Art (2005-2008). She is currently Etching fellow at the Royal Academy Schools. Solo shows include: Sanatorium, Marlborough College (residency, 2011); Proof, The Hannah Maclure Centre, Dundee (residency, current); TBA, Black Swan Arts Centre (2014). Winner of the Mann Drawing Prize 2010, The Daler Rowney Drawing Prize 2009, nominated for Best Newcomer at the RA Summer Exhibition 2007. Group shows include: The Open West (current), Newark Park and Cheltenham Art Gallery, (2013); A Place Called Home, Clearlake Hotel, London (2012); Et Cetera, Hoxton Art Gallery, London, (2012); The Divided Self, Cob Gallery, London, (2011); Pushing Print, Pushing Print, Margate (2011); Northern Print Biennale, Northern Print, Newcastle, (2010).

Illustrated Talk

Forensic Art; Seeking Meaning in Small Things
Objects have always interested me. As a child my mother pretended that my cornflakes were alive, making high pitched squeaky voices of the flakes begging for mercy as they entered my mouth. Micky Mouse’s wizardry, commanding inanimate objects in the film Fantasia struck fear into my heart. What if these objects have soles and can one day fight back?

As I grew up I came to realize that, like the cornflakes, it is objects that should fear us. In our consumer society it is easier to buy cheap and throw away at the first sign of damage or decay. As the older generations die, their once cherished possessions are found in charity shops or at the local tip. Discarded and once loved objects secretly store away their own history which we can only guess at or imagine. They act as a trace or even a portrait of their previous owner. In my art, I strive to raise the status of such objects and question our treatment and pre-conceived views of them. In this way, they become relics.

Printmaking excites me because you directly use an object (the plate) to create the print. Commonly this is a piece of copper, lino, wood etc that the artist, like Micky Mouse, attempts to command and spends great effort embellishing. Each print acts as a trace of this object that describes and proves its existence.
Forensics also deals with the trace. The links between this science and print is obvious with such terms as ‘fingerprint’. Like the ex-possessions in a charity shop, the objects left behind at crime scenes have been forgotten and discarded. However, in forensics the object is treated with both a sense of respect and care, and a sterile objectiveness. People’s clothing, hair or possessions are poked, prodded, dyed, gassed, swabbed, sprayed and cut. The emotional weight of these objects fades as the necessary scientific processes prevail.