Baroque Sprawl
This artwork featured at No.1 Station Approach, Hereford (2024). A Meadow Arts and Hereford College of Arts commission.
Sculptor Laura White’s striking installation challenges the uniformity and predictability of the urban sprawl that surrounds No.1 Station Approach.
Drawing inspiration from the dynamic and flowing style of the Baroque period, White’s creation pays homage to Bernini’s famous sculpture, Apollo and Daphne (1622 – 1625) which is represented on the large billboard on the Aylestone Hill end of the building.
Bernini’s sculpture depicts Daphne, a beautiful and fiercely independent nymph, evading Apollo’s amorous pursuit by changing into a tree. Bernini’s powerful sculpture captures the moment when Daphne begins this transformation; look closely and you will see that her hands and feet are already sprouting branches and leaves.
On the opposite end of the building, White’s installation echoes Bernini’s masterpiece too, but injects an element of unpredictability while remaining rooted in plain materials. The fabric that weaves through the undulating metal frame is white scaffolding sheeting, a product used on construction sites the world over. Using this humble material, the artist grounds the monumental sculpture in the everyday and connects it to the fabric of the city.
Positioned in this location, on one of the main arteries leading in and out of the city, the work establishes a vibrant conversation between the city and the magnificent Herefordshire landscape surrounding it.
Renowned for her adventurous use of materials, White constantly explores their boundaries and possibilities. Through this artwork, she celebrates the profound impact art can have, inviting viewers to contemplate the transformative power inherent in both the materials and the creative process.
About the artist
Laura White
Laura White exhibited at No.1 Station Approach, Hereford (2024 – 2025) and The Precious Clay (2018 – 2019).
Laura has a materially engaged practice, that cuts across a studio practice (primarily sculpture), writing and fieldwork.
Laura focuses on process and how objects/things come into being, with an emphasis on the handling of materials, from stable material such as ceramics and concrete to the changeable matter of clay, bread dough, silicone rubber and rusting metal. Exploring and responding to material behaviours and her personal relationships to them, alongside their historical and social contexts.
It is important for her to be led by her materials and to collaborate with them, rather than imposing herself on them. Laura is drawn to materials and processes that challenge her physically, materials that are difficult to control, awkward to stabilize and resist being fixed. It is important for her not to plan what she does, but start a journey with a material and see where it takes and pushes her, being exposed to the breaks, mistakes and failures of materials to open up new directions and possibilities.
Laura investigates materials in many different contexts, engaging with fieldwork to learn new hands-on skills while also de-skilling, to rethink, to not know, and continually challenge herself. One of the ways she does this is by expanding her skillset. Over the years she has learned skills in butchery, fish mongery, taxidermy, cheese making, sushi, patisserie and baking, plus many other skills – enriching her body-hand-material vocabulary, which is absorbed and digested into her studio practice.
Laura’s interest in materiality is also explored and documented through her online work – Tenderfoot, an ongoing project that explores materiality through a digital space. Launched in 2017 it includes Laura’s writing on materials as a means to delve in, unpack and experience from a different perspective her encounters and entanglements with the world of stuff. It includes her fieldwork – workshops exploring materiality, both participating and running them, and materially engaged projects from invited guests, covering a range of subjects from cooking to skateboarding.