Harriet Gillett

Harriet Gillett is a painter and printmaker from East Yorkshire, currently based in London. 

Harriet’s work explores some of the dualities she sees around her, seeking to offer a space where multiple narratives exist at once. Working from a combination of observational drawing and imagination and drawing reference from a range of literary sources, she looks to create psychological landscapes which blur the lines between the tradition and the contemporary, abstraction and figuration, dream and reality; to touch upon wider themes of identity, surveillance and escapism. She employs a variety of materials and processes, often mixing together seemingly opposing subjects, colours and painting languages within one image in order to playfully reflect our contradictory relationship to our own environments. 

The merging of vibrant watercolours or layering of murky oil over neon spray-paint enacts memory’s ability to distort things and our desire to sugar-coat the past, aiming to give both a glimpse of nostalgia towards shared rituals and spaces, whilst also acknowledging the diversity of perspective. 

Harriet’s current body of work circulates around themes of longing, loss, waiting and boredom. Inspired by sketches made prior to lockdown and song lyrics she’s listening to, her postcard-sized paintings are escapist and dreamy in their nature, reflecting her desire to be anywhere but her house.