Prudence Ainslie – Compressive Force Up

For almost half a century, the Aylesbury estate in SE London has been at the centre of Britain’s unresolved arguments about class segregation in cities, about whether architecture can cause social dysfunction. “Compressive Force – up” reinterprets the semi-demolished areas of the estate that are subsequently under regeneration. In this print, hollow architectural studies are interlaced with a series of supporting woodcut arches, framing cloudscape vistas that continue to break through into the deserted spaces.

Prudence Ainslie is primarily a printmaker. She documents places with the intention of re-analysing the act of seeing. The viewing experience is absorbed through process and the re-working of multiple media as a fluctuation between the reading of the two-dimensional and three-dimensional occurs. Her images often bring together the traditional 20th century woodcut and contemporary digital printing methods, exploiting the subtle layering of contrasting print media.

In 2019 she was shortlisted for the Jerwood/Printmaking Today Print Prize. In 2022 she will be attending the MI-LAB artist in residence programme at Fujikawaguchiko-cho, Japan, to study Mokuhanga printmaking. Her work is held by public collections including Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, Golder-Thompson Collection; Chichester University; Swindon Museum and Gallery Collection, Wiltshire; United Therapeutics Corp. Collection, USA.

Born 1990, Wiltshire, UK.