POPPY MERCEDES (B.1999, LONDON, UK)
IS A PAINTER WHOSE WORK IS AN ACT OF DEVOTION AND GRIEF-TENDING, SPELLBOUND BY THE PROFOUND THREADS THAT WEAVE WOMANHOOD, NATURE, AND THE UNSEEN. ROOTED IN STORYTELLING, ALLEGORY AND SYMBOLISM, HER PRACTICE DRAWS FROM MEMORY, MYTH AND WILDNESS.

WORKING PRIMARILY IN OIL PAINTING, ALONGSIDE DRAWING, MURALS AND CERAMICS, POPPY CREATES PORTALS INTO NUMINOUS REALMS SHAPED BY THE CELTIC OTHERWORLD, ECOFEMINISM AND FOLKLORE.

HAVING SPENT HER LIFE BY THE SEA, POPPY CONSIDERS THE BELOVED SMUGGLER TOWN OF HASTINGS TO BE THE CLOSEST THING TO HOME SHE HAS EVER KNOWN.

HER PAINTINGS ARE DREAMINGS, GUIDED BY ARCHETYPE AND INSTINCT, WHERE THE EARTHLY AND THE ETHEREAL COMMUNE.