Burnett Henny
Stretched & Tethered
Cast plaster, carbolic soap, fabric/clothing, string & wooden coat hanger
2020 – 2021
I am a mixed media artist working mainly in sculpture and installation using a range of techniques that include casting, assemblage, photography, projections & sound. My practice is about the domestic and everyday, and the stories of the objects around us – in both our homes and museums. Collecting, collating, documenting and display are key elements in my work as is repetition. I am interested in the dynamics of opposites: domestic and industrial, beautiful and ugly, useful and useless, temporary or permanent.
Born in London, UK, artist Henny Burnett currently has her studio in Bristol. She attended Byam Shaw and Edinburgh Colleges of Art and has exhibited nationally and internationally, undertaking residencies in Italy and Britain. She has won awards from Juliet Gomperts Trust, The British Council, ACE and travel grants to Canada and USA. ‘365 Days of Plastic’ was a selected finalist piece in the Aesthetica Art Prize and during 2022 she exhibited in the City Art Centre, Edinburgh, RWA Bristol, Salisbury Museum and APT in London.
‘Stretched & Tethered’ investigates feelings of conflict and precariousness produced by the roles of artist/motherhood/career. A nylon petticoat in ‘Tethered’ is set in a block of plaster cast from a shopping bag and then suspended on a child’s coat hanger. The companion piece ‘Stretched’ has tights set in blocks of plaster cast from old packaging they resemble the shape of sand castles. The feet of the tights contain blocks of carbolic soap, which emanate a smell of disinfectant. They hang like puppets from the ceiling on strings.
Dimensions: 130cm x 130cm x 60cm
