Ffiona Lewis

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Words are important to Ffiona Lewis. A snatch of dialogue, a phrase from a book, a cadence. Words often trigger a painting, or tumble out of one. They are points of departure that describe the arc of a body of work, a vocabulary built to investigate a subject. ‘To the Horkey’, the title of this exhibition, speaks of nature and the way of life in the corner of rural Suffolk that has been the artist’s home for a decade. An archaic, dialect term, ‘Horkey’ was the feasting and frolicking that celebrated the bringing in of the harvest in East Anglia. While its customs have long disappeared, the word remains resonant for Lewis. For the age-old, seasonal husbandry of the land still supports her neighbouring farmers, food producers, weavers and spinners, and continues to shape the landscape. This body of work, made during lockdown, is a response to place, community and breaking bread. - Excerpt from catalogue essay by Susan Moore