Molly Line
Molly Line is a London-born artist trained in illustration, but skilfully branching out into textile art. Her art explores the everyday, the very simple materials and actions that make up human behaviour.
To see more of Molly Line’s work, please visit her Instagram.
About:
Molly Line was born and raised in London. She knew from the time she was a child that her life would be an artistic one. She began drawing at a very young age, and eventually studied Illustration at the University of Brighton. Line praises the course, saying that the flexibility and openness at the university allowed her to explore Illustration as a broad term – not one particular practice. She was told that as long as she was communicating an idea, she was illustrating. At the time, the message was hard to grasp but, over the years, Line has begun to appreciate the sentiment.
Line’s art explores the everyday. Her recent body of work is a series of clothing pieces made from discarded fruit and vegetable nets. Line collected the nets from the café she worked at, and accepted donations as well. Despite their status as discard, the nets themselves are beautiful; colourful and translucent.
Easy Pealer, red onion and clementine nets, 2021.
The artist says the nets inspires a range of emotions. The colours inspired her to play, to feel joy. But they also prompted feelings of anxiety. Line says this combination of feelings is powerful - in that this is how many people feel every day.
The net clothing certainly recall the social and environmental issues that so dominates the discourse of the twenty-first century: climate change, ocean pollution, food insecurity, fast fashion, famine and overfishing. A contemporary viewer is likely to connect these nets to the anxiety-producing headlines. And yet, the brilliant colours and luxurious shapes of the pieces refuse a purely-apocalyptic reading. One is not disturbed, but rather feels an urge to wear these discarded produced nets.
My Favorit, onion sacks and shower puff, 2021.
The material of the nets is playful, treating its wearer as a product. The human body is stripped of its privilege - being given the very same status and position as fruit and vegetables. Some of these pieces were exhibited during a solo show at the Gallery Café in Bethnal Green earlier this summer, but the artist sees them as an on-going project.
Molly also continues to draw, working primarily with charcoal, pastels and watercolour pencils. She prefers tools which allow her to have the freedom and space to improvise during drawing process.
