Preview: Millie Suu Kyi – Belonging(s) @ The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle

London artist Millie Suu-Kyi brings her solo show, Belonging(s) to Newcastle art-gallery The Biscuit Factory. The exhibition is a playful exploration of the relationships people have with their belongings, a narrative that has featured in her work since she left her home to get her degree in Decorative Arts, as she explains, “When I moved to university, I began to notice a few prominent styles of people… At the time, I was getting increasingly frustrated by people’s obsession with branding and consumerism, as every day I was becoming more informed and concerned about the environment and the awful toll human consumerism was having on it.”

The exhibition takes a fresh perspective on how people interact with their possessions and use them as extensions of their own personalities. To do this Belonging(s) comprises five characters, all imagined but inspired by people she has previously encountered or observed, formed in ceramic busts; these relatable individuals are created simply to exist in themselves.

Alongside her ceramic sculptures, Millie’s collection also includes a series of illustrated prints relating to each character, designed to offer some further context to each individual, and demonstrating how she draws across both 2D and 3D disciplines.

Millie adds, “I enjoyed creating an illustration to establish a context for my ceramic pieces, and therefore generating a sense of cohesion between the 2D and 3D art worlds which I inhabit.”

The artist won The Biscuit Factory’s 2020 Contemporary Young Artist Award and curator Sam Waters is excited to have Millie back at the gallery, “We were won over by the spirit and moxie of Millie’s work. It’s heartening, satisfying – and uncommon – to see a young artist have the visual and emotional dexterity to be able to handle serious ideas with a lightness of touch and well-judged wit. She navigates with great levity the complicated and sometimes competing or contradictory dynamics of socially-engaged art – being humorous, but not flippant; sincere but not earnest; warm but not sentimental; and critical but not unkind. Her work is coherent and straightforward, full of subtleties and complexities, and her strength of conviction and personality as an artist shine through it”.

Belonging(s) is exhibiting at The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle from 10th September to 23rd October and all works will be available to own at the conclusion of the show.