Anne Seagrave is a multi award winning British born artist. She frequently presented her distinctive live art performances internationally for 25 years (1983 – 2008) during which time she was based in the UK, Ireland and Spain. From 2004 – 2008 she was post doctoral research fellow (AHRC) at the University of Ulster in Belfast, focusing upon artist’s use of self image (www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/wmasi.html).
In 2008 she retired from performance, working instead for 2 years full time with horses in Spain. She is currently based in Krakow. During 2010 she presented several exhibitions of self portraits in Poland. A forthcoming exhibition of video and painted self-portraiture will be exhibited at the Jewish community centre in Krakow, July/August 2011.
Her paintings, some of which are shown here, are the result of a creative investigation upon the theme of self-portraiture. ‘In my opinion a self portrait is not a piece by the artist, but a piece of the artist. If the artist removes her facial features, removes her sexual identity, and collages her painted image with another creature, is the result still a self portrait? Each painting has one protagonist, but why does she appear in so many disguises, constantly inhabiting other identities? And why is our isolated protagonist endlessly searching for balance? I believe that art is not a product, it is a process. It is not by objective to produce decorative objects for sale. I prefer to invite the purchaser to participate in an experimental creative investigation. And when the viewer participates, the artist survives.’