Laura Porter (b. Lewisham, 1991) is based between North Devon and South London, and is the founding director and curator of Studio KIND. in Braunton, Devon. Having obtained an MA in sculpture from UAL, Laura has received funding from The British Council, Arts Council England, A-n and has exhibited across the country.
Working with discarded clothing – a material that carries with it cyclical histories of land, worker, consumer and waste – Laura breaks down the garments to create a raw material that is re-formed into solid structures, often in response to the environments in which she works.
Exploring the in-betweenness of repurposed materials and built environments, and the energies of consciousness that have been absorbed by these over time, I’m interested in how the man-made can evolve and shift into a quasi-living entity; a reflection of the natural world from which is derives. The sculptures become a proposition for a post-human world, where a new material language is formed from their previous bodily interactions. The sculptures re-imagine our material world as neither rigid nor organic - straddling the space between biological and human-made; rural and urban; lived and inactive.
Intrinsically grounded in the traditions of craft and textiles art, my practice pushes back against an automated, digitised world and hierarchies of labour and material, instead placing value in slow, low-tech processes performed by the body. Using my own body as a site of action and a renewable energy source, I undertake labour-intensive tasks in order to critique the idea of productivity as a measurable output of effectiveness.
Selected artist CV
Solo Exhibitions
When Walls Will Talk, Gallery 333, Exeter, 2024
Compost, The Plough Arts Centre, Devon, 2023
Crouch, One-to-Ten Miniature Gallery, Hastings, 2023
A Strange Land, The Plough Arts Centre, Devon, 2019
The Other in Sympathy, Lobby Space, London, 2017
Liminal States, Unit10 Bristol, Bristol, 2016
37 Degree Cycle, Art in the Launderette, Bubbles, Kent, 2016
Let Us Imagine All Beings, Things and Persons Reverting to Nothingness, Curious Gallery, Eastbourne, 2014
Duo/Trio Exhibitions
Dissonance, with Kelly Franks curated by Blanco Gallery, Winn's Gallery (William Morris Gallery), London, 2023
efface:trace, with Sharon Haward, Gallery DODO (Phoenix Art Space), Brighton, 2023
Fragmented Parts, Mental Debris, with Fergus Channon and Miles Lauterwasser, Lewisham Arthouse, London, 2023
Ebb + Flow, with Fergus Channon, AMP Gallery, London, 2022
Transitions, with Mina Fouladi and Lauren McNicoll, Cave Pimlico, London, 2022
Reciprocal Space, virtual residency and exhibition with Lee Mok Yee, funded by British Council Connections Through Culture Grants, 2021
Drawing Room, by Building Nine Collective, Plymouth Art Weekender, Plymouth School of Creative Arts, Plymouth, 2017
I Love To Smell The Flowers But I Can't, Laura Porter and Kim Taylor, The Edwardian Cloakroom, Bristol, 2016
Vivarium, Laura Porter and Kim Taylor, The Control Room, Bristol, 2015
Group Exhibitions
Folded Lines, The Back Room KL, Kuala Lumpur, 2024
Loose Ends, Thames Side Studios Gallery, London, 2024
Up Scale, Project 78, St Leondards-on-Sea, 2024
Surging Silence, Hypha Studios, 2023, London
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Willesden Gallery, London, 2023
Church/Factory, Dilston Grove, Southwark Park Galleries, London, 2022
Improv, APT Gallery, London, 2022
Incomers & Insiders, Bay View Gallery, North Devon, 2022
Unstable Ground, Studio KIND, North Devon, 2022
Brick Walls & Glass Ceilings, Wilson Road, Camberwell, London, 2022
Economy of Materials, Camberwell Space, London, 2022 (part of the Economy of Materials research project led by Tina Gverović)
That Art Exhibition, Espacio Gallery, London, 2022
Material Matters, Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds, 2021
Past, Present, Future, The Plough Arts Centre, Torrington, 2020
Craft, Thought Foundation Gallery, Birtley, 2020
Terra Nostra, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, 2019
Affordable Art Fair, Thought Foundation, Newcastle, 2018-2019
St Margaret of Antioch commission, Heritage Lottery funded exhibition at Left Bank Leeds, Leeds, 2018
Make Space alongside Woman's Hour Craft Prize, Bristol Museum, Bristol, 2018
Gender and Sexuality, The Island Gallery, Bristol, 2017
Broomhill National Sculpture Prize, Broomhill Sculpture Garden, North Devon, 2016-2017
Imagined Worlds, various locations around the South West, 2016-2017
Fringe Arts Bath Festival, Bath, 2016
The Plymouth 'Other' Open, Devonport Live Arts Venue, Plymouth, 2015
Apples for Everyone, Tottenham building, London, 2015
Bentliff Art Prize, Bentliff Gallery, Maidstone, 2015
The Collyer Bristow Graduate Award, Collyer Bristow, London, Curated by Day + Gluckman, 2014-2015
Futures, Truman Brewery, London, 2014
The Future Is Leaving, Degree Show, Middlesex University, London, 2014
PAUSE, Beaconsfield, London, 2014
STATE, The Atrium Gallery, London, 2014
Broaderlines, The Atrium Gallery, London, 2012
The Performance of a Machine, The Atrium Gallery, London, 2012
Other
Project: Reciprocal Space Residency, British Council Connections Through Culture funded project with Lee Mok Yee, 2021
Micro-commission: The Material Will be Quiet Yet Alive, commissioned by Queen's Hall Digital, 2021, in collaboration with Lydia Porter, 2021
Micro-commission: Hyperlocal micro-commission by Arts and Culture Exeter, Devon, 2020
Bursary: Time, Space, Money, A-n bursary, 2020
Set Design: The Plough Youth Theatre, collaboration with Emily Megson, The Plough Arts Centre, Devon, 2018
Workshop: Make Space in association with Woman's Hour Craft Prize, Bristol Museum, Brisol, 2018
Finalist in Broomhill National Sculpture Prize. For the online catalogue click here, 2016-2017
Winter In London album launch, video installation, Saunton Road Studios, Devon, 2017
Self-directed residency: Building Nine, Vienne, and 2019, Limoges, France, 2016
Solo residency: On Display, Unit 10 Bristol, May Bristol, 2016
For the blog of the residency click here
Group residency: Apples for Everyone, Tottenham building, London, 2015
For the group blog of the residency click here
Education
MA Fine Art: Sculpture, Camberwell (University of the Arts London), 2021-2022 (Distinction)
BA Hons Fine Art, Middlesex University of Art and Design, 2011-2014 (First class)
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, University of the Creative Arts, 2010-2011
Contact