Hartley was born in 1988 in the South Downs where she grew up, she graduated from Kingston University in 2010 with a BA hons in Illustration and from the RCA in 2013 with an MA in Fine Art Printmaking, she has since been selected for New Contemporaries, had residencies in Canada, New York and Athens. Hartley lives and works in South East London and continues to exhibit around the UK, Europe and North America. Hartley set out in printmaking, making large scale woodcuts, her work referenced dreams, familiar landscapes and with fragments of her own text.

Hartley set out in printmaking, making large scale woodcuts, her work referenced dreams, familiar landscapes and with fragments of her own text. Her time in the printmaking department at the RCA encouraged her to push scale as far as she could and take her mark making to a more expressive outlet in mono screen printing.

The mark became more intuitive, forceful and the voice more urgent. Over the last 10 years Hartley has used this process to make giant site-specific installations, filling gallery walls, billboards, disused car parks and shop fronts. Her palette is recognisable as is her text, from it we get a sense of something deeply personal but always ambiguous.

This body of work is Hartley’s second show dominated by oil painting and movement, the voice is softer, and there are quieter moments. The palette is familiar and there seems more importance to let the light in. This series of work has been made over the last 6 months in Hartley’s new studio in Deptford, where she has thrived in its natural light. This work is sure of itself, and in it Hartley has taken comfort in her memory of land, witnessing light and the physicality of it all.

‘Early Hours’ at Blue Shop Cottage May 2021
‘To be bathed in this light’ at Blue Shop Cottage Nov 2021

View available work

View FALLING OVER BACKWARDS show