Our winter artist in residence is Isabelle Carr. Isabelle grew up in Dorest but has most recently been living and working in Chengdu, China. While at the cottage she hopes to develop a series of paintings which draw on the visual language of her photographic work in Chengdu.

Isabelle explores spatial relationships within the cultural landscape, documenting encounters where the weight, scale, and arrangement of entities playfully hinge on prepositions. Her compositions focus on the spaces above, below, around, and amidst, exaggerating a deliberate hiddenness within the work. By contrasting the solid stillness of paint with areas of transparency—suggestive of both organic and inorganic systems—Isabelle reveals the internal mechanics of the works’ construction. The work serves as a personal evaluation of the collection and categorisation of visual information, a process central to how we interact with the physical world. Through recurring dualities—lightness and heaviness, balance and imbalance, isolation and connection—Isabelle examines whether deeper meaning lies in presence or absence.

Through recurring dualities—lightness and heaviness, balance and imbalance, isolation and connection—Isabelle examines whether deeper meaning lies in presence or absence.