Morley Gallery Exhibition: Total Rubbish – Kate Wilson

Morley Gallery presents Total Rubbish – an exhibition of recent paintings and drawings by South London artist and educator Kate Wilson. Kate finds inspiration in her daily landscape – in urban spaces and in objects, natural and man-made.

The exhibition concentrates on paintings and drawings made during and after lockdown – a period when Kate was painting empty streets and first started noticing and painting rubbish. Kate Wilson [born 1965, London] draws and paints trees, shopping trollies and plastic bin bags, pruned bushes, coffee lids and food wrappings, power pylons, municipal bushes, lids, bins, plastic tops on grass, paper dissolving on pavements. Her work tends to be autobiographical – a way of exploring what it means to be alive.

Kate Wilson commented: “ The act of painting is like writing poetry. It has the power to evoke many feelings on so many different levels, and I began to find meanings in these bin bags other than their obvious call to produce less waste. In their shape-shifting flexibility, I realised many of them reminded me of my own body; at times full, at times empty. This caused me to reflect on my relationship with food and how I viewed my own person. I find it hard to see my aging stomach as a thing of beauty, and, as a woman in her late 50’s, I sometimes feel I am no longer seen. Painting these bags reminded me that my body also has value.”

‘Since recognising this human connection, I now regularly notice and engage with rubbish thrown on the street. I pick up coffee lids, juice and water bottle tops, paper bags, and plastic containers and take them back to my studio to draw and paint. I find that they are all beautiful to look at despite being squashed and broken.”

To coincide with her exhibition Kate will present a Penny Lecture at Morley College London about her work and explore how we can all be creatively inspired by the urban landscape around us.

Host or Publisher Morley College London