VIDEO: Emma Talbot-Drawing Occupies an Unexpected Space

“My deep fascination or love of drawing comes from very early childhood.” British artist Emma Talbot dives into the world of drawing and uncovers how it can bridge between inner experience and the concerns of our time.

To Emma Talbot, the early image-making came from within, unconcerned with realism and correctness. She believes the directness gives drawing its energy, enables it to carry ideas and creates a childlike state: “I left that kind of drawing behind for a long time,” she says. “Then, at a certain point in my life, when I became a widow, I was grieving. I felt that the things I was making were too far outside of me, and they didn’t correspond to my feelings. So, then I picked up drawing again.”

Gradually, the work also began to encompass her concerns about the world. Drawing, she says, can form “a bridge between the very interior, the very felt experience and the sort of common sensibilities of our era.” Mythological figures often help Talbot make that connection. In one of her drawings, she uses Chiron, the wounded healer, whom she sees as representing our desire to heal and reconsider the systems we live in: “These mythic figures,” she says, continuing: “They have a way of telling our stories, our contemporary stories.”

“Sometimes I could make a drawing and not really know what it’s about.” For Emma Talbot, drawing can open a space for thoughts that have not yet been articulated. “The role of drawing is to occupy an unexpected space.”

Emma Talbot (b.1969) studied at the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design and the Royal College of Art. Her work was showcased at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia as part of the exhibition ’Milk of Dreams.’ In 2022, she was awarded the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, which culminated in the exhibition The Age / L’Età, shown at Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia and the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Talbot’s exhibition history includes solo shows such as “The Human Experience” (2023) at Kunshtall Stavanger ’In the End, the Beginning’ (2023) at Kesselhaus, KINDL, Berlin, “When Screens Break” at Eastside Projects in Birmingham (2020), ’Ghost Calls’ at DCA in Dundee (2020), and ’Sounders of The Depths’ at GEM Kunstmuseum in The Hague, Netherlands (2019-20). Noteworthy exhibitions also include ’Woman-Snake-Bird’ at Galerie Onrust in Amsterdam (2018) and ’The World Blown Apart’ at the same gallery in 2017. Her recent work ‘Seeds Grow in Fertile Ground (Every Thought is an Opening)’ (2023) was featured in the group exhibition ‘Irreplaceable Human? The Conditions of Creativity in the Age of AI at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Her work has found a home in collections worldwide, including Guerlain in Paris, British Council Collection, Arts Council Collection, City of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, David Roberts Collection, Saatchi Collection, University of the Arts London, Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth, Fries Museum NL, Arnhem Museum NL, KRC Collection NL, and AkzoNobel NL.

 

 

Emma Talbot was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at the lithographic workshop and gallery, Edition Copenhagen, in July 2026. Edited by Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen, Produced by Marc-Christoph Wagner, Music via Upright: Portraits On The Wall by Kasper Kaae and Brian Batz Andersen, Floating Dots by Kasper Kaae and Brian Batz Andersen, © Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2026. Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond