Miranda Forrester
Overview
Miranda Forrester lives and works in London. She holds a BA in Fine Art Painting from the University of Brighton.
Forrester explores the queer Black female gaze in painting. Her work addresses the invisibility of Black queer women in the western art historical cannon, seeking to explore the plurality of queerness and blackness with an honest and sensitive approach.
Her gestural style hovers between drawing and painting in application. Delicate, tender, visualisations of Black queer women in spaces where they are the most expansive versions of themselves. Domestic life and intimacy are sparsely defined and painted, alluding to a life in the process and event of unfurling and defining itself, capturing intimate moments of warmth, tenderness and insularity.
Forrester's figures occupy their spaces with bold softness, authority and subtlety, in moments of calm and quietude, within compositions that include queer popular cultural and historical references in the form of collaged photo-transfer elements across selected areas of the canvas, polythene or polycarbonate surface plane. The latter materials commonly used in architectural construction, play a key role in Forrester's work, as the transparent surfaces allow viewers to peer through the depicted bodies, blending the changing physical environment with the imagined world of her paintings.
The frames visible beneath the polycarbonate, mimic traditional canvas stretchers, and expose craftsmanship and labour as part of the visual experience of the work. This creates a sense of fluidity, inviting viewers to move in and around the paintings, fostering a deeper connection with the figures, noticing cast shadows referring to alternative narratives, and manifesting Forrester's intent to honestly represent her perspective and view on life and art as experienced by a queer, Black woman.
Recent exhibitions include: Conversations, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK (group - 2024); In the Blood, Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK (group – 2024); Interiorities, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Chicago IL, USA (solo - 2024);
In Praise of Black Errantry, Unit London, during the 60th Venice Biennale, Palazzo Pisani S. Marina, Venice, Italy (group - 2024); Together We Thrive, Culture& and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, in collaboration with Gallery OCA and venue Cromwell Place, London, UK (group – 2024); LEDA and the SWAN: a myth of creation and destruction, Victoria Miro Gallery II, London, UK (group - 2023); Arrival, Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK (solo - 2023); Like Paradise, Claridges Art Space, London, UK (group - 2023); Hauntology: Ghostly Matters, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Chicago IL, USA, (group - 2023); Somatic Markings, Kasmin, New York NY, USA (group - 2022); Our Land Just Like a Dream, Macaal, Marrakech, Morocco (group - 2022); The Company She Keeps, Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos, Nigeria (group - 2022); Hard as Nails, Quench Gallery, Margate, UK (group - 2022); At Peace, Gillian Jason Gallery, London, UK (group - 2021); Small is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, London, UK (group - 2021); Sixty- Six London, St George’s Place, London, UK (group - 2021); Reality Check, Guts Gallery, London, UK (group - 2021); Poetic Sustenance,Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK (group - 2021); Abode, Guts Gallery, London, UK (solo - 2020).
Works
Press
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Miranda Forrester’s Vulnerable, Queer Motherhood
Ivana Cholakova and Miranda Forrester in interviews, Frieze, December 1, 2023 -
Tiwani Contemporary Presents Miranda Forrester's Arrival
Occhi Magazine, November 14, 2023 -
To celebrate Frieze London, Marie Claire hosted a discussion and dinner with Soho House to discuss women, representation and art
Sofia Piza, Marie Claire, October 13, 2023 -
To celebrate Frieze London, Marie Claire hosted a discussion and dinner with Soho House to discuss women, representation and art
Sofia Piza, Marie Claire, October 13, 2023 -
Group Exhibition ‘Like Paradise’, Curated By Ekow Eshun, Brings Together Artists Of Colour Exploring Natural Landscapes
Mark Westall, FAD Magazine, October 5, 2023 -
Local Talent: London-based Artists at Frieze 2023
Frieze, September 19, 2023 -
5 Artists on Our Radar in January 2022
Adeola gay, Artsy, January 5, 2023 -
Research Inspires New Gallery Exhibit
Steve Scarpa, Wesleyan University, November 22, 2022 -
The Boom in West African Art Enlivened Nigeria’s Art X Lagos Fair—But Economic Worries Ran Below the Surface
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Artnet News, November 9, 2022 -
SOHO HOUSE HOSTS INAUGURAL AWARD CEREMONY AT 180 HOUSE WITH ALL-STAR CAST OF WINNERS & GUESTS
Essex Magazine, September 2, 2022 -
15 Artists to Watch in 2022
Alexis Schwartz, L'Officiel USA, July 31, 2022 -
Latest News in Black Art: Orange County Museum Commissions Sanford Biggers Sculpture, Theaster Gates 'Black Chapel' Debu
Victoria L. Valentine, Culture Type, June 13, 2022 -
Female Artists Showcase Skills In The Company She Keeps
Nigerian Tribune, June 5, 2022 -
Artists Beam Light On The Company She Keeps
Ovwe Medeme, Independent, June 4, 2022
Exhibitions
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In the Blood
Rita Alaoui, Virginia Chihota, Miranda Forrester, Heloisa Hariadne, Joy Labinjo, Claude Lawrence, Tessa Mars, Amanda Mushate, Emma Prempeh 27 Jun - 14 Sep 2024Our group show, In the Blood, features represented, and associate artists inspired and committed to painting. This exhibition is a review of their approaches defining their representations of life and...Read more -
Miranda Forrester
Arrival 23 Nov 2023 - 6 Jan 2024Tiwani Contemporary is pleased to present Miranda Forrester's first solo exhibition at the gallery's new space in Cork Street, titled 'Arrival'. The exhibition focuses on the domestic intimacy of the...Read more -
The Company She Keeps
Chioma Ebinama, Miranda Forrester, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Nengi Omuku, and Charmaine Watkiss | Lagos 28 May - 13 Aug 2022FORTHCOMING - TIWANI CONTEMPORARY, LAGOS 13 Elsie Femi Pearse Street Victoria Island Lagos, Nigeria Opening times: Tue - Sat: 10am to 6pm Tiwani Contemporary is...Read more -
Poetic Sustenance
Ryan Christopher, Miranda Forrester, Joseph Olisaemeka Wilson 15 Jul - 21 Aug 2021Tiwani Contemporary is pleased to present a three-person exhibition of work by a group of new, emerging voices in contemporary art including Ryan Christopher (UK), Miranda Forrester (UK) and Joseph...Read more