Laura Footes (born 1991 in Birmingham) is an English artist whose work is "based on personal experiences, memories and imagination, nourished and enriched through observational drawing."[1][2]
Footes' father was an electrician[6] and builder who had grown up in the Sparkbrook Irish slums in the 1950s. Her mother worked as a dinner lady. Footes praises her father's support and influence, which included constructing a studio for her and introducing her to crafts.[7]
"He was always drawing, always designing, always making models, and seeing that from an early age was so strikingly different from all of the middle class parents around me that were very well educated, they had excellent minds, but they couldn't do anything with their hands."[7]
Classism within the art world, particularly within high art, pressured Footes to change the way she speaks.
Footes' relationship with her origins has since come full circle, with her embracing her heritage in her work.[7]
“Culture would be pretty bland if it was just one type of person always finding their way to the top. My story is: I’m female, I’m working class, and I’m from the Midlands. I deserve to have a voice in this.”[7]
"I feel extremely proud to be from Birmingham now. I hid my accent and identity, and now its naturally coming back into my work, and I think the best work will come from embracing where I come from, rather than trying to be somebody else, and that takes time and courage." Laura Footes, Real Life, BBC Three[7]
A scholarship to the Royal Drawing School in London who were supportive in introducing people from working class backgrounds to the arts.
Footes believes her hospitalisations simultaneously "separated [her] from the outside world" and "enhanced" her "senses in regards to [her] visual imagination."[9] Recognised for "ghostly figures transcendently flowing through time in dreamlike urban and domestic settings" with subjects having "out-of-body experiences".[10]
"[In] Footes’ dreamlike paintings, she presents a cast of beautiful, ghost-like figures rendered flowing through time instead of bound to a single moment. Some of these vestiges are pulled from life– family and close friends– and others are dreamt in fantasy while convalescing at home."[11]
"With everything laid bare for her audience, the uncomfortable moments, the daily rituals, and even our internal bodily systems, Laura Footes is able to share a unique and empathetic understanding of the complex nature of life and existence for us all. And through art, she demonstrates that we can turn our obstacles into inspiration if we choose."[11]
"On a visit to Edinburgh to see an old friend who works at the Royal Botanic Garden, I came across the most unusual flower in one of their greenhouses. Titan Arum is it’s Latin name, and it is the largest flower in the world and only blooms once every 5-10 years and it opens its flowers at night and releases the most foul odour of rotting corpse (hence the name). I was enchanted by the idea of this dormant monster. The seductive horror of the plant reaffirms my awe of the natural world including the chaotic dysfunction of organic matter in the human body, as I have lived with a debilitating intestinal disease since I was 13. Due to my disease and background in modern languages and literature studies, I am naturally drawn to the macabre and gothic works of the late 19th early 20th century, as well as hammer horror, surrealists, David Lynch and European cinema. The Corpse Flower unites all of those things in one grotesque beauty."[13]
Footes' drawing Memory of Bedford Square at Night (2013) was selected by then HRH Prince Charles for the exhibition, and laid out to the Prince's own designs.[17] The exhibition was a feature of the 2018 Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, to mark the 70th birthday of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.[18]