Zoe Elizabeth Arthur

Exploring connections between time and people.

My art practice explores the work and life of Jane Austen and the relationship it has with my family heritage. Through depicting the landscapes and domestic settings of the late Georgian and early Regency period I connect myself to history that has fascinated me since childhood, allowing for insight about Jane Austen’s world and where I come from. Walking is an activity frequently written about in Austen’s novels and I wanted my paintings to reflect on this by walking the audience through a day in an Austen woman’s life. I created a figure who combines aspects of Jane’s characters, Jane herself, and me. The framing of my paintings is important as I chose to play with perspectives and switch between first and third person, reflecting on how I feel transported to a different time when I read these books through the vivid descriptions of life.  The influence of Impressionist painters from the Nineteenth century is significant to my understanding of paint and its ability to influence the way the work is read. Working on linen canvas, the brush marks I create aim to be fluid, gestural, and visible as they reflect how I am piecing together Austen’s novels, real life, my heritage, and imagination. Jane Austen provides a motive for my paintings through her connection to my family’s history in rural England.