I am a visual artist and am also currently undertaking a project of social and historical research which is related to my artistic area of interest. I have been based in Edinburgh for several years, where I also grew up, but am now relocating to London to do an MA in Printmaking at The Royal College of Art.

My practice is focused around my interest in the history of unusual types of performance and involves periods of research, searching archives and integrating ephemera from archives of theatre, magic and circus history directly into the work.

I enjoy the process of working with and presenting old and sometimes rarely seen material in a new context and mixing in elements of my own design. I choose to work as a printmaker, specifically in the area of screenprinting, as it lends itself very well to this process and because I love working on paper. I have a real passion for printed materials of all kinds and I am heavily influenced by the work of other printmakers.

I am interested in performance culture and in particular in those acts that take place on the fringes of popular culture – and also in the way the distance of time affects the perception of popular culture and its artefacts. Archives of the ephemera of popular and vernacular culture are therefore the ideal starting point for my work; I wish to explore whether these items, simply by their very preservation and their status as ‘historical’ have been imbued with qualities normally associated with ‘high’ culture, and why something that is often derided in its contemporary setting is given the accolade of preservation, thus altering its supposed ‘throwaway’ nature. This incongruity I feel is worthy of investigation through adding yet another layer to the life of the object and its subject matter by turning it into art and giving it a new audience.

My most recently completed project was a series of screenprints based around the theme of ‘learned’ animals (an unusual form of popular magical entertainment in the 18th and 19th centuries) utilising images and text from playbills, reviews, posters, songs and books.

Using material from archives is now one of my primary objectives as an artist. It is my aim to cultivate this objective through mutually beneficial interaction with stewards of archival material where possible, and through my own interest in particular collections and themes.

I am currently working on a new series exploring the history and lives of women in the conjuring arts, using photographs and ephemera from the archives of The Magic Circle and other private collections.

My book project is concerned with documenting the experience of women in the magical and allied arts – magicians, conjurers, illusionists, showwomen and those who have presented an unusual and engaging act that falls under the category of ‘allied arts’. My next project as an artist will be in tandem with the subject of the book and will utilise rare images of female magicians and performers.

You can find out more about me on my website sharonwhyte.co.uk

Statement © Sharon Whyte February 2011