Cecilia Webster
My work explores the relationship between people and urban environments, with a particular focus on isolation in crowded public spaces. I am interested in how figures exist quietly within systems of routine and constant movement, often becoming absorbed into their surroundings rather than standing apart from them. Transport spaces such as train platforms and stations recur throughout my work, as they highlight the tension between physical closeness and emotional distance.
Using drawing, etching, printmaking and mixed media, I explore how tone, texture, repetition and scale can communicate emotional states such as detachment, claustrophobia and discomfort. I often reuse the same image across different processes, allowing each medium to shift the atmosphere and meaning. Through progressive printmaking, layered surfaces and shifting levels of contrast, figures can become increasingly obscured or overwhelmed by their environments, reinforcing the idea of isolation intensifying over time.
By merging realism with abstraction, my work moves away from literal representation and towards emotional experience. I try to show how figures are shaped by the spaces around them. Through restrained colour palettes, high contrast and negative space, I aim to capture the psychological experience of moving through urban environments and the subtle loneliness within them.