projects.

Selected works

The work explores the loss of language and culture, specifically as a result of the 1932 'La matanza' and the extermination of bison in the American Plains.
When language is lost, entire ways of living, thinking and understanding are erased. This results in a desperate reclaiming of this loss, as a grief response, only to find that it will never be quite the same.

This place was once a People

To turn the Sacred and Make it Artificial

The demolition of traditional symbols, deterritorialization, commodification and destruction of sacred landscapes holding generations of ways of living ultimately causes the destruction of culture and undermines the identities of those on the losing end. Looking at ‘Civilisation Pillar’ by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, a pillar made entirely of human fat, I think of how infrastructure is built by consumerism, and this is what fuels capitalism. Moreover, we are asked to cannibalise ourselves by capitalism, consuming the product of colonised labour. I represent this idea in the work through the use of warped figures, unrecognisable and yet presenting slight resemblance to humanity. Identity is manufactured, bought and curated, and it consumes us, this is civilisation.

Detectability

Eyal Weizman coined the term ‘threshold of detectability’ to refer to when an object, such as a detail in a photograph, hovers between being identifiable and not. Therefore, its validity and truth are questioned. When the object is at this threshold, Weizman encourages us to see images as representations of reality whilst considering its materiality as an object with its own characteristics.
This painting can be spun by the viewer to reveal and cover certain parts of the map I made, the very indicator of borders is being broken down.
This communicates themes of the reliability of maps, as falsifiable but also as accurate indicators of adversity.

The Archive is Scattered

Inspired by Chinua Achebe, who discusses how language carries culture and Njideka Akunyili Crosby who claims art medium is a form of language. Achebe inspires us to ‘dirty’ inherited western languages to speak on non-western culture. Adapting this tactic to my practise, I paint onto unconventional shapes, layering styles, xerox print and acetate to use the inherited language of painting to speak on my own cultural heritage.

I knew the Light in that Room

Exploring themes of nostalgia after reading poetry describing El Salvador.
Painted on a piece of wood I found, which makes the work even more personal as only I know where this wood is from and what it once was part of.

Terrain

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about.

Bridget Hyland (b. 2004) lives and works in Leicester (UK). She studied Fine Art at De Montfort University, Leicester (UK).
Hyland’s work has been shown in both solo and group exhibitions, including at LCB Depot, Leicester Museums and StudionAme. She has organised several free art workshops to allow Leicester residents to engage in creative expression, always highlighting that art is something anyone can practise.

Hyland’s work approaches painting as language — a system of visual syntax used to speak to the ineffable. Interested in how language carries culture, Hyland explores themes of the artificial and the sacred landscapes that civilisations hold. Her practise is a means of both collecting and mapping — she uses photographic and cartographic archives to discuss the connection between identity, infrastructure, language and culture.

Her work is influenced by poetry, particularly Salvadoran poet Alfredo Espino. By immersing herself in nostalgic poetry, Hyland can tap into a deeper emotional resonance, infusing her work with a stronger sense of connection.

contact.

Contact Bridget

bridget3hyland@gmail.com