Rebecca Dawson (b.1997)

Landscape Fragment VII (2021)

Rebecca Dawson is an artist from Straid, N. Ireland. She graduated from Belfast School of Art in 2020, completing an Art and Design Foundation Degree between 2016- 2017, then going on to gain First Class Honours in BA (Hons) in Fine Art. Dawson was awarded a place on the Graduates in Residence Programme for the BA Fine Art course at Belfast School of Art (2020-21), for the painting specialism. Recent exhibitions include 'Ulster University BA and MFA Fine Art Graduate Show' at the MAC in Belfast (September 2020) and the group show 'Emergence IV' at Queen Street Studios (June 2021). Dawson was also a part of 'it was raining exclamation marks' (June 2021), a joint show with Aoife Burns at the Belfast School of Art, that was organised and curated by both artists.

Dawson's practice explores how we interact and use landscapes, and spaces that we inhabit - particularly with environments that are assumed to be 'natural’ but are actually heavily constructed and have an artificial quality to them. Dawson wants to create an underlying artificiality in her paintings, be this through imagery, colour, composition, form or through the embedding of things into the surface of the paint.

This can be seen in 'Landscape Fragment VII', with the use of tape as a medium. Working predominately on a small scale allows Dawson to keep an openness to her practice, alongside continual experimentation. In her work she seeks to question; what is 'natural'? or what is perceived to be 'natural'?