1985, UK, lives and works in London
Holly Birtles is a UK (London) based artist and educator. Her photographic practice incorporates performance, prop production, and digital/analogue techniques, often in collaboration with writers, visual artists, and musicians. Her work connects performance to place, exploring ecologies and personal narratives associated with specific eco- systems. Props and performances respond to natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions; sitters personify specific materials or structures related to the selected sites. Using sound- based performances and tactile props, her works document experiential loss through the photographic image. Recent projects integrate performance and AI into darkroom processes, reflecting on slow violence, ecological crises, myth and sentimentality linked to rivers. Birtles exhibits internationally, often collaborating with artists and writers and is course leader of BA (Hons) Photography at Brighton University.
EDUCATION
Greenwich University – Post Graduate Certificate in Education (2015 – 2017)
The Slade School of Art – MFA Fine Art (2009 – 2011)
Westminster University – BA Hons Photographic Arts (2005 – 2008)
Selected SOLO
2022 CCA Dorset Place, Brighton, Volcano Mother, Performance and sound by Johanna Bramli
2021 UP TO YOUR NECK IN MUD, XXijra Hii, Estuary Festival (online), Deptford, London
2020 UP TO YOUR NECK IN MUD, XXijra Hii, Deptford, London
2018 LAZY BOY Spannocchi Jazz Event and Exhibition, Blank 100, De Beauvoir Town, London
2018 Luna Elaine ‘LAZY BOY’, Bermondsey, London
2017 Sharks in the Lake, Depford Cinema, London
2016 I keep my Expression in my nose, Doomed Gallery, Dalston, London
2014 Dr Feel Bad, Doomed Gallery, Dalston, London
2011 James Hockey Gallery, Farnham Surrey
Selected GROUP
2025 Somerset House, Sony, World Photography Awards, (17th April – 5th May)
2025 Dorset Place Gallery, Brighton, British Antarctic Survey Archive Collaboration (March)
2025 Forum Gallery, Chennai, India, Alt Analog, Photoworks/CPB Dark Room Residency, Chennai Photo Biennale (16th January- 15th February)
2024 Willmott Gallery, Brighton, What Lies Beneath, Holly Birtles/Zoe Childerley
2024 Phoenix Arts Space, Brighton, Stranger Than Fiction (5th June – 10th June)
2024 APT Gallery, Bog Bodies, Holly Birtles/Charly Blackburn (30th May – 2nd June)
2023 Hercules Road at Platforms Project, Athens, Greece
2023 Hypha Studios, Seismic Mother, Stratford, London, co-curated https://hyphastudios.com/seismic-mother-curated-by-holly-birtles-charly-blackburn
2023 Recreational Grounds, Elephant and Castle, London (including performance collaboration with Hannah Grasskamp)
2023 Hercules Road, Blake’s Old Haunt, London
2022 Safe House Peckham, Holly Birtles/Molly Grad/David Micheaud, Peckham, London
2022 Magic Sponge, Hercules Road, London
2022 Telling Pictures, Photography Research Group, Willmot Gallery, University of Brighton
2022 Baaad Press, Book event, Birmingham School of Art
2022 Bergen Art Book Fair, Bergen, Norway, book Launch; On Growth and Form Edition 3
2022 Mother Lode, Holly Birtles/Natalia Janula, XXijra Hii Gallery, Deptford, London
2022 Photographic Exploration Project, Kommunale Galerie, Berlin
2021 Way Out East, University of East London, London
2021 When Was the Last Time You Saw the Sea? Youkobo Art Space, The Garden, Ai mi Tagai Showspace, Tokyo, Japan
2021 Bristol Artist’s Book Event (BABE), Arnolfini Bristol
2020/2021 Bergen Art Book Fair, Bergen, Norway
2020 Photo Book Fair, Impressions Gallery, Bradford
2020 Paradox Amusements (Holly Birtles and Lucinda Metcalfe, Lewisham Art House (12 – 15th March 2020)
2020 Conscious Isolation, Online @consciousisolation
2019 Open Salon 35, Southwark Park Gallery, London
2019 Bermondsey Artist Group show Southwark Park Gallery, London
2019 Sheffield Artists Book Fair Artist’s Book Centre, Sheffield
2019 PROD 3, Deptford Does Art, London
2019 Jazz and Visuals Spannocchi Trio/Holly Birtles, Agile Rabbit, Brixton, London
2019 Research work in progress, University Centre Farnborough, Hampshire
2019 Baltic Self Publishing Artists market, Baltic Gallery, Newcastle
2018 Jazz and Visuals Spannocchi Trio/Holly Birtles, Deptford Cinema
2018 OPEN18 SOLO HUB ONCA Gallery, Brighton Fringe (Shortlisted)
2018 GET OUT MY GALLERY, Holly Birtles/Nicky Carvell, Doomed Gallery, London
2018 Open Salon 34, CGP Gallery, London
2018 Lazy Boy performance, Chalton Gallery, London
2018 BBB Books, Baltic Self Publishing Artists market, Baltic Gallery, Newcastle
2018 Metro Auditorio, Chalton Gallery, Mexico City
2017 Creekside Open, Selected by Alison Wilding, APT Gallery, Deptford, London
2017 Book Art Far, BBB Book Collective, Baltic Gallery, Newcastle
2017 London Brain Project with Great Ormand Street, collaboration project, Menier Gallery, London
2017 Research work in progress, University Centre Farnborough, Hampshire
2017 Plymouth Art Book Fair, Counter, Davy Building Plymouth University, Plymouth
2016 Baltic Self Publishing Artists market, Baltic Gallery, Newcastle
2016 London Brain Project, Link gallery at Institute of child Health, London
2016 PROD 2, Unit 3 Projects, Bow, London
2016 Art Shorts, The Valletta Film Festival, Malta
2016 Baltic Self Publishing Artists market, Baltic Gallery, Newcastle
2016 Uncover Festival, Bower Ashton Library, Bristol
2016 Uncover Festival Liverpool library, Liverpool
2016 Uncover Festival, Falmouth, USA
2016 Uncover Festival, Middleton Library, Manchester
2015 Group Show, Chalton Gallery, London
2016 PROD, Unit 3 Projects, London
2015 BBB Books Collective, Bergen Art Book Fair, Bergen, Norway
2015 600 Miles West of Mexico, The Store, London
2015 Material Light, Cultural Centre Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
2015 Baltic Self Publishing Artists market, Baltic Gallery, Newcastle
2013 Material Light, Westminster University Gallery, Photography Department, London</p>
2013 Vibe Gallery, Bermondsey, London</p>
2013 Bind your heart in my hair (or) We’ll have no trouble/no disturbance here, Husk Gallery,Lime House London
2013 The Laying on of Hands, 5th Base Gallery, Brick Lane, London
2012 Scratch the Surface, East Gallery, London
2011 Artist in Residence Show, The Slade School of Art, London
2011 MA/MFA Show, The Slade School of Art, London
2011 10 Gales Prize, 10 Gales Gallery, Bethnal Green, London
2011 Ordinary Time, St Barnabas Church, Dalston, London
2010 The Slade Interim Show, Woburn Research Centre, London
2010 Transfer, UCL Art Collection, The Strang Print Room, London
2010 Artist Books, Galerie Ute Parduh, KaiserswertherMarkt 6a 404 Düsseldorf, Germany
2010 Life on the Island, Cheltenham Art Gallery, The Brewery, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
2009 A Thing about Machines, Arts Festival, Coventry
2008 The University of Westminster Photography Degree Show, The Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London
2008 The University of Westminster Photography Degree Show P3 Gallery, Marylebone Road, London
2008 Pin-Yin, Gallery West, Harrow, Middlesex
2008 Terra Incognita The Foundry, London
2007 Same Light: Different View, Nanjing Normal University Gallery, Nanjing, China
2007 When the Sky Turns Purple, The Nolias Gallery, London
2004 I Am, The Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London
PUBLICATIONS
2020 Arcs, Circles, Lines & Broken Lines, self published
2019 On Growth and Form Edition 3, Holly Birtles/Tim Burrough, Sherwood Books
2018 On Growth and Form Edition 2, Holly Birtles/Tim Burrough, Sherwood Books
2016 Sharks in the Lake, self published
2015 On Growth and Form Edition 1, Holly Birtles/Tim Burrough, Sherwood Books
2011 1F Opera, self published
2012 1F Opera, Lucy, self published
2011 1F Opera (version 2), self published
2010 The Ear Book, self published, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Archive
2010 Revisiting the Cerebellum, self published
2009 The Brain Book, self published, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Archive
2008 Mechanical Reproduction, self published 2007 Erratic Wiring, self published
2007 Mechanical Plants, Pre explosion, self published