Coming soon: essays 2015 - 2017
UK artist Martha Haversham was born in London and now lives in Wivenhoe, Essex. She has a coastal studio in Seawick, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Her current practice combines found object collage and fine art photography. She is internationally recognised for her 'trashion' imagery as part of her Smallditch project which began in 2017
ARTIST STATEMENT
My interdisciplinary practice responds to the world aesthetically, conceptually and satirically. I am exploring value and worth; using techniques from both the visual and performing arts to evaluate lives and objects of low and hidden status.
To paraphrase Primo Levi, we are all dancing atoms of carbon. At a quantum level, particles move with unimaginable vigour so by extension, death becomes a different act in the minute ballet of life. The way in which this perpetual molecular dance affects our perception of time also intrigues and is explored in micro-installation and choreography in two-dimensional space. Through this prism, life's detritus is elevated to truth, providing social commentary via unexpected means of articulation. I wish to explore this universality of dance, it is both life and death and my starting point.
In 2016/17 I moved my practice to the absurd, to Narragonia. For years I supported my creative projects with income from a stereotypical job with no progression whatsoever and I began to address the confusion of my artistic status whilst assisting others in power. Originally, my found fashion/trashion was picked-up on my lunch break and made back in the office. As an artist, I am interested in how this practical necessity feeds into the perception of what constitutes interdisciplinary practice and female art; if the price of my artwork rises to reflect my status as a contemporary artist, it will be in direct contrast to the diminishing value of the invisible secretary who made them.
Smallditch continues to be at the centre of my practice, a place I like to be and through which I can explore aesthetic appreciation in a way that does not cost the earth, but rather helps it along. Through 'trashion' I can dress the imagination. To be oblique and inaccessible in this conceptual realm is pointless; my use of nostalgic triggers, playful miniature scale, digital platforms, found objects and natural materials are a conduit to the philosophy that art empowers, sustains and rewards, providing a profundity of endeavour and a curiosity equal to all.
Martha Haversham
Still Life with Bark, Feathers and Paint Brushes 2018
Poodlepods: a Pointless Office-Orientated Dynamic Learning Environment 2016
Palitoy Pippa doll photo story published on Instagram alongside Powerpoint eLearning videos on YouTube.
2017 - Present
Latest images from the Smallditch trashion project can be viewed daily on Instagram @smallditch
Collaborations/Commissions
2024 Cosmopolitan Germany, print and digital edition, May issue
2023 Nicole Saldana Footwear, NYC - AW23
2023 Everyday Plastic 'Choose Loose' SS23 campaign
2023 Cidade Jardim, Brazil - annual campaign
2022 Ponte alle Grazie publishing house, Milan
2022 Random House New York
2021 Lulu Guinness X Smallditch2hjh2jhkjhjh
2021 Harper's BAZAAR Japan Chanel feature June Issue
2021 DuPont Sorona(R) LUXE
2020 Stella McCartney X Smallditch AW20 campaign
2020 The Pink Lemonade + Nike + Smallditch
2020 V Magazine / Gigi Journal II
2020 ELLE UK print and digital editions February Issue
2019 ELLE UK Print and digital editions December Issue
Self-Directed
2016 - Poodlepods (Pointless Office-Orientated Dynamic Learning Environment) a multi-platform project with a 1976 Palitoy Pippa doll
Selected Exhibitions 2007 - 2015
2015 Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting, Swindon Art Gallery
2014 Solo Show, Rayleigh Windmill, Rochford, Essex
2014 East Anglia Artists, The East Contemporary Art Collection, Waterside Gallery, Ipswich
2013 Solo Show, New Hall Art Collection, University of Cambridge
2013 Sculpture, Sand and Sea, Walton Sculpture Trail, Essex
2013 Artist in Residence, Holocaust Memorial Week, Human Rights Centre, Essex
2010 East London Design Show, Shoreditch, London
2010 Kunstbehandlung - Metamorphosen, Munich
2010 Clerkenwell Design Week
2010 Outside World Gallery, Redchurch St, London Design Festival
2010 London Design Festival, 60 Frith Street, London
2010 Kunstbehandlung 'London Calling' Munich
2010 London Festival of Architecture
2009 Solo show, Greenwich Picture House, London
2009 Naze Tower Art Gallery, Walton, Essex
2008 National Army Museum, Chelsea, London (unfinished)
2008 Alma Street Gallery, Wivenhoe
2007 Life Gallery, Colchester
Public Collections:
East Contemporary Art, Waterside Gallery, Ipswich
Collection of Contemporary British Painting and Photography, Swindon Art Gallery, UK.
