Feature Sarah Maple shines a light on the big issues
WATCH
WATCH
“I think she is a vital voice of our polarised world – often using herself as a conduit to challenge stereotypes and normative behaviour. She helps us confront and navigate complex issues that we are all thinking about with wit, irony and a startling honesty.”
Maple works across a variety of media including painting, photography, video, performance, ready-mades and collage. Her work is a response to the political climate and world around her, from news events and overheard conversations to popular culture – all served up in her tongue-in-cheek style. Her past exhibitions have focused on Brexit, taboo representations of Muslim women, ardent feminist themes, xenophobia, Trump and toxic masculinity.
You can see Maple’s work next in an exhibition at KochxBos gallery in Amsterdam in September, all being well. Her painting ‘The Past Is Now’ has also been acquired by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and she’s looking forward to seeing it on the wall there after lockdown.
About the champion
Kate Bryan is an arts broadcaster and Head of Collections for Soho House and Co globally. In June 2019 she published her first book, The Art of Love, her second will be published in September 2021. She has written and presented television programmes for BBC, Sky Arts and Sky Arte Italia and is a judge on the long running programmes Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year and Landscape Artist of The Year. In 2014 she won the Arts category in the Women of the Future Awards and is now a mentor for young artists from underrepresented backgrounds.