About the work

Emma Talbot has created Animal Guide, 2022 especially for Whitechapel Gallery to accompany the exhibition Max Mara Art Prize for Women Emma Talbot The Age / L’Età 30 June – 4 September 2022

Talbot’s edition derives from a drawing by the artist. Created as a silkscreen print onto Khadi paper - a natural handmade paper made from bark - Animal Guide, 2022 depicts a memory of a walk taken by the artist over Mount Etna, Sicily - when staying on the permaculture site.

The walk began at 5am and as the group started to climb the volcano a pale wild dog joined them and led the way to the top. For Talbot, who is interested in our connections with nature, being in this strange, black volcanic space - with craters, rock hard lava and burned trees from previous eruptions, accompanied by a very gentle animal was a very moving experience. The dog, an ‘animal guide’ stopped and waited at points and stayed as they sat for something to eat, watching the sunrise.

About the artist

Emma Talbot (b. 1969, Stourbridge) lives and works in London. Working in drawing, painting, animation and sculpture Talbot often articulates internal narratives as visual poems or associative ruminations, based on her own experience, memories and psychological projections. Incorporating her own writing and references to other literary and poetic sources, Talbot’s work considers complex issues such as feminist theory and storytelling; ecopolitics and the natural world; and pertinent questions regarding our shifting relationships to technology, language and communication.

Selected exhibitions

Talbot’s work is currently on show in Milk of Dreams at The 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Recent solo exhibitions include: When Screens Break Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2020); Ghost Calls , DCA, Dundee (2020);Ghost Calls and Meditations Kunsthaus Pasquart, Biel (2021); Sounders of The Depths, GEM Kunstmuseum, The Hague, Netherlands (2019-20); Emma/Ursula, Petra Rinck Galerie Dusseldorf (2020); ArtNight 2019 commission: Your Own Authority, William Morris Gallery; 21st Century Sleepwalk, Caustic Coastal and Salford Lad’s Club, Salford (2018); Woman-Snake-Bird, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam (2018); Open Thoughts, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (2017); The World Blown Apart, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam 2017; Stained With Marks Of Love, Arcadia Missa, New York (2017). Her work is held in the collections of Guerlain, 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, Perth, Fries Museum NL, Arnhem Museum NL, KRC Collection NL, AkzoNobel NL.