Mary-Ann Stevens North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
I make predominantly papier-mâché sculptures. I love its immediacy, expressiveness and physicality. My work often has a performative quality. They are not just sculptures — they’re personalities, each holding part of my own identity, emotions, and fears, reflecting some of my own mental health challenges but also inviting a shared recognition.
I work in a variety of media, including sculpture, painting and video. I am currently working primarily in sculpture. I use paper mâché as my medium. I have gradually built up a series of sculptures. The crude, bumpy, construction of the papier-mâché sculptures display a childlike playfulness. The process of tearing, pasting and shaping newsprint is hands-on and instinctive — a way of thinking through making. My work is expressive and bright, quirky, odd, and emotionaly complex.
My work often has a performative quality. I love the process of finding the right costume and props, I have been developing a distinct sculptural voice rooted in autobiographical narratives, humour, and vulnerability.
