Back Yard Energy

Emma Stroude, Back Yard Energy, Handstands With Woolly Socks – Today and Tomorrow (Diptych), Charcoal on Paper, Both 84cm x 60cm, 2020

My dedication to life drawing is having an increasing impact on my work. These drawings were made during the lockdown of 2020 and show teenage girls leaping, dancing and practicing handstands in the enclosed spaces of their back gardens. There is something about the core strength of these young women driving themselves to succeed, to express their frustrations, to release their pent up energy that strikes a nerve in me. I am interested in exploring the building of resilience through physical activity in my drawing work. Although the drawings appear photographic, on close inspection there is a freedom, an energy and a looseness to the marks made.

The Light Fantastic will be exhibited in 2021 at The Kanu Nayak Art Foundation in Mumbai as part of an exhibition of large scale drawings made by The Drawing Box collective of which I am a member.

Emma Stroude, The Light Fantastic, Charcoal on Paper. 119cm x 84cm, 2020

Emma Stroude, Dancing On The Inside, Charcoal on Paper, 119cm x 84cm, 2020