"I love looking. I draw to see more, to discover and record the interactions between part and whole, and between myself and the wider world. I aim to pin down specific characteristics of the spaces I come across and hope to convey my subjective experience of time as I do so.
For the past decade, drawing has been my primary medium, rather than a preparatory process. It was incredibly liberating to realise that drawing could be the medium for entire bodies of work, and realise that drawing gives me an exhilarating and versatile means of witnessing and recording the spaces I encounter”.
- Alexandra Blum, notes for artist’s talk within Dr Glenn Sujo’s, ‘Learning Pathways: An Education in the Arts II’ event, 22 May 2021.
During recent projects, residencies and commissions I have documented the precarious relationship between massive industrial and elemental forces on the banks of the Thames at Angerstein Wharf, the rapidly transforming landscape within the vast Dalston Square construction site, east London, the boundaries between interior and exterior space within my home and the impact of seasonal changes on Laycock Green, north London.
My drawings have been included in exhibitions at The Museum of the Home, Hackney Museum and the London Transport Museum. Awards include the Hugh Casson Drawing Prize 2019 at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, an Oppenheim John-Downes Award 2012 and First Prize in the David Gluck Memorial Bursary for Drawing in 2008.
The fragmented spatial and temporal structures in my work are informed by my interest in Early Netherlandish painting and a MEXT research scholarship at Kyoto City University of Arts, Japan (1996-98). I am also an artist educator at the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Discover more about the drawings, stories and processes within each project here, or watch a video about my work. See close ups of my drawings in the RA Summer Exhibition 2024 here.
