Phoebe Boswell

Zoom [But, Mars]

Maker

Phoebe Boswell (British, b. Kenya, b. 1982)

Title

Zoom [But, Mars]
from the series Notes on a Lockdown

Year

2021

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Sheet: 25.4 x 40.6 cm (10 x 16 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Richard Brown Baker Fund for Contemporary British Art and Paula and Leonard Granoff Fund

Object Number

2021.63.1

Type

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 17: Variance

This issue complements the RISD Museum exhibition Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability, on view through October 9, 2022.

Exhibition History

Variance
Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability
Feb 01, 2022 – Oct 09, 2022

Label copy

Gazing upwards and off camera, artist Phoebe Boswell here refers to a technology many of us have become familiar with over the last two years: Zoom. In this meticulously rendered self-portrait in graphite and watercolor, Boswell leaves a few hints to indicate what we are seeing, including the cursor on her cheek. Her Mars-themed background has also glitched, revealing the studio behind her in the spaces between her braids and face.

This work highlights how illness, or disability, can shape culture. Whether we directly or indirectly encountered COVID-19, we have all witnessed how it has changed social and work interactions.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Tombstone

Phoebe Boswell (British, b. Kenya, b. 1982)
Zoom [But, Mars]; from the series Notes on a Lockdown, 2021
Graphite and watercolor on paper
Sheet: 25.4 x 40.6 cm (10 x 16 inches)
Richard Brown Baker Fund for Contemporary British Art and Paula and Leonard Granoff Fund 2021.63.1

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.