Sasha Furnée Horton

Could you tell us a bit more about your practice?

In my practice I am drawn to escapism and creating a more alluring world. Be it through making illustrations, installations, furniture, sculpture, paintings or clothing, I have a strong desire to create things which make the world a more delightful place, or to use worldbuilding to give people an escape from the harsh realities of their life. That being said, most of my work is based on issues of our world. Either the injustices facing women all over the world or the state of the climate and our environmental impact on the planet. I believe it is my responsibility as an artist to talk about the issues which bother me, but I do so in a fun and playful way as I believe this is a way to make people feel more engaged and make art accessible to more people. 

As an art student working through the pandemic please tell us about some of the challenges you faced during this time.

The biggest challenge I faced being an art student in the pandemic was the lack of time in the workshops which limited what I felt I could achieve during the Foundation course. This in turn hindered my creativity. However, this also allowed me to come up with alternative methods in my practice which I may not have experimented with in the past. 

All artists were forced to adapt during the lockdown, do you think these circumstances effected your practice in any way and did you manage to find new ways of getting your work ‘out there’, such as online exhibitions?

My main focus was creating work that meant something to me. We were all adapting to this new world so I don’t think I spent to much time worrying about getting work out there, but more to make work for myself as a sort of therapy.

Exhibitions such as New Blood aim to support early career artists by exposing them to new audiences, but this can only go so far. Is there anything that galleries could, or should, be doing to help develop your career further?

I think the main thing that is useful for young artists is to have safe spaces to display work which you feel you have control of. Having online spaces were artists could put up their own work would be a great way for people to be able to access new and exciting work.

Are there any new projects you’re working on that you’d like to tell us about?

Currently I am working on a technicolour style short film about feminism. I am still very much in the early stages but I am interested in exploring the role of women in Hollywood films. The 1950s films are slammed for being very anti-feminist however some the female stars of these films were very much feminist icons just caught up in a very male dominated, misogynistic industry and a man’s world. I want to explore this topic in the style of a golden age film and experiment with the romanticised ideas of the world many of these films portray.