Jyll Bradley’s installations, films, drawings and sculptures bring together the formal vigour of Minimalism with a highly personal exploration of identity and place. Light is an important protagonist in her practice, and she talks of using it to ‘bring things into the present’. Her work combines craftsperson-ship with industrial fabrication through dynamic pairings of materials from different art histories or traditions – for instance fluorescent Edge-Lit Plexiglas with re-purposed timber.
Bradley’s work often engages with site and the creation of new spaces. Her acclaimed public realm commissions – including Green/Light (for M.R.) for The Folkestone Triennial and Dutch/Light for Turner Contemporary – reference generative structures such as hop gardens and glasshouses, expressing what she sees as the practical, spiritual and emotional work involved in growing a sense of self, place or community. Bradley’s works have increasingly become sites of activity such as performance and, over 2021, this is further developed through the creation of a new suite of films which explore their ‘world’ and ecology. These innovations reflect Bradley’s interest in sculpture as a potent gathering place of people and ideas.
Jyll Bradley studied at Goldsmiths College (1985–88) and The Slade (1991–3). Since the early 1990s she has exhibited in the UK and internationally including: The British Art Show, Hayward Gallery, London (1990); Museo De Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia (2004); Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, China (2004); Arnolfini, Bristol, (2005); the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2008); Newlyn Art Gallery (The Exchange), Penzance (2010); the Bluecoat, Liverpool (2011); The National Library of Australia (2013); The Drawing Room, London (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021); New Art Centre, Roche Court (2017); Sculpture in the City, London (2018, 2019, 2020). Her forthcoming exhibitions include a solo presentation at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh in 2021.
Bradley’s work is held in numerous national and international private and public collections including the Government Art Collection, UK; Folkestone Art Works, UK, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; the National Library of Australia and Canberra Museum and Art Gallery.
