Fish Factory

Ruby Bateman is a visual artist, working and living in London. Her work is often self-referential, (re)depicting and translating imagery across different materials and processes. She uses film, photography, drawing, and painting to discuss her personal and political relationship with (institutionalised) motherhood.

Artist statement:

Iceland’s legacy for storytelling, Norse poetry, mythology, and folk law are renowned worldwide, sparking imaginations for centuries. The Fish Factory residency immersed me into Iceland’s dramatic landscape, the generous spirit of Icelanders, and their culture and language. I was able to write, draw and film a piece of allegorical fiction inspired by the absurdity of Norse Mythology, the Stöðvarfjörður mountains, and my passion for maternal politics.

This has been a truly transformative experience, opening myself up to the written word in a new and more literal way. Before I had been exploring storytelling in more abstract terms on film, often drawing on myself as the subject. Now I feel I have progressed into a more imaginative mode of language, one that can relate to my interests and concerns for (institutionalised) motherhood without having to put myself so centrally. What emerged from my month’s residency was a super 8 film, a collection of sculptures, film photography, and a series of ink drawings: originally storyboards for my film, but became works in their own right. The trust and freedom I was given at the Factory allowed me to create work more prolifically and without expectation or inhibition. I was able to weave together a fully formed collection of work that commented on patriarchy and its suppression of women’s reproductive and intellectual knowledge throughout history.

Thank you, Ruby! :)

// Check the interview on Youtube //