Tess Tallula's work is multilayered and mixed media, blending textiles and craft techniques with traditional two and three dimensional art forms. Recurring characters inhabit her soft hued dreamscapes, ribbon faeries and spiders, swans and small black creatures. Rooted in a lineage of creatives and trained formally at Oxford Brookes, Tess's creations serve as both a celebration and a means of survival. Through her practice and play, she navigates themes of memory, emotion, and interconnectedness, inviting viewers on their own introspective journeys. Processing time in a nebulous, nonlinear way, Tess Tallula wades back through her childhood, preserving each connection with humans, animals, plants and spirits. Saccharine memento mori, smiling skulls, flowers and ghostly spirits act as a way to process grief and celebrate the circularity of life and our place in the universe. These seemingly otherworldly or fantastical scenes are intensely familiar recreations of something innate and unspoken.
Exhibitions
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2024 Potluck, Phantasmal Gallery, 44AD, Bath
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2023 Temporary Autonomous Art, London
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2023 Bimbo Pop, Pineapple Black, Middlesborough
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2022 Our Fragile Earth, St Mary's Church, Oakley
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2020 SCRAN, Cafe Etch, Middlesborough
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2019 Pets, TOMA, Southend
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2019 Fandom, Bad Art, London
2019 Lead for LAPER, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford
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2019 Fandom, a 'BAD ART' exhibition by Blobby Boys, Bones and Pearl, London.
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2019 Pleasure Palace, The Medicine Gallery
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2018 Squash and Stretch Book Launch, Modern Art Oxford
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2018 Blob E, Celebrations, Oxford
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2018 Hoi Polloi, Oxford Brookes, Oxford
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2018 Stretch and Squash International Performance Event, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford
2017 Soapbox Art and Science, Oxford
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2017 ​Psychedelic Circus, Performance, East Oxford Community Centre, Oxford
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2017 The Goodlife, Performance, Bullingdon Arms, Oxford
2017 Cabaret Melancholique, Peckham Liberal Club, London
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2017 Situate, Oxford Brookes, Oxford
2017 A Sense of Space, A Letter in Mind, Oxo Tower, London
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2017 Reclaiming Spaces, Fusion, Oxford
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2017 7 Countries open, Ovada, Oxford
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2017 Intrusion, 2 Kingdom Street, Paddington, London
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2017 Elastic, Performance Event, Oxford Brookes, Oxford
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2017 ‘Where’s the Art?’ CARU, Ovada, Oxford
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2016 Jam, Oxford Brookes, Oxford
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2016 Sleep On It, Solo Intervention, And So To Bed, Oxford
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2016 A View on Nature, A Letter in Mind, Oxo Tower, London
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2016 Psychedelic Circus, Art Performance, Cellar, Oxford
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2015 Evolve, Oxford Brookes, Oxford
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2015 .472, Ovada, Oxford
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2015 The Art of a Journey, A Letter in Mind, Oxo Tower, London
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Commissions
2022 Picnic Picknick, Oxford Leiden Link, Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
2022 The Other Art Show, Artistic Direction, Licklemor Productions, Sky Arts
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2020 Unmuted Set Design and Artistic Direction, Licklemor Productions, Sky Arts
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2020 Trumpington Park School, The Insect Breeding Institute, Cambridge County Council
2018 Ceramic Sculpture, Nuffield Hospital, Oxford
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2018 Sensory Room, Sobell House hospice, Oxford
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2016 Commemorative Sculpture, Oxford Brookes Nursing Department
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2007 Mama Youth Project Logo Design
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Awards
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2017 Rishi Mullett Sadones Memorial Prize
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Education
2018 ​Fine Art BA Hons, Oxford Brookes University
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2015 ​Art and Design Foundation Diploma, Oxford Brookes University
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