Tilda Watson | Artist

Hanging cat mobile and collage — Image 1 of 10

Mobile with etched black forms — Image 2 of 10

Collage of images and text — Image 3 of 10

Mobile with black forceps and wall collage — Image 4 of 10

Mobile with etched black bird — Image 5 of 10

Collage notes and sketches — Image 6 of 10

Print of a face and the word RUN — Image 8 of 10

Silhouette of an Ercol dining chair — Image 9 of 10

Collage of images, text and keys — Image 10 of 10

Artist statement

My practice explores the symbiotic space where dream recollection and lived memory meet: a state of confusion and of grief for our lost experiences. As we attempt to preserve what is both beyond and within us, we are caught in a never-ending cycle of forgetting and remembering.

Recollection documentation has become the basis of my practice, and this is realised through text, drawing, fragmented dialogue, print, and installation. The work consists of an accumulation of visual material and autobiographical notation, reduced to subdued natural hues and monochromatic forms.

The fragments of this installation become a map of visual, written, and auditory association where two versions of the “self” collide, and dreams reverberate into the awake experience. The artwork seeks to mediate between the dream self and the awake self, recognising the duality within us all. In so doing, the work helps us understand this dynamic and brings us closer to a realisation of our true selves.

Tilda Watson: Society of Scottish Artists, Artwork and Profile

Reviews of my work

“Identity is always a big theme at degree shows, and the trick is to find a way of telling your own story which engages others… Tilda Watson explores dreams and memory in a visually striking lexicon of black and white images which she turns into an impressive mobile.”

Degree Show 2022, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, Dundee
The Scotsman, 23rd May 2022

“Tilda Watson creates an immersive experience assembled from the archiving of dream landscapes. Fragmented speech echoes around the room from speakers, declaring ‘I haven't remembered too many dreams…I picture them dancing together on my doorstep’. This exhibition is that doorstep. A giant, spinning mobile hangs above. Enchantingly swinging round are vivid black cut-outs, illustrations of the descriptive sound piece.”

DJCAD Degree Show 2022
Dundee University Review of the Arts, 30th May 2022

“Eleven artists have been selected from this year’s graduates at Scotland’s art schools and some FE colleges. Most respond with ambition, letting their work stretch to fill these big spaces: Hannah Grist’s sculptures made from old radiators; Tilda Watson’s striking monochrome mobile; Sarah May Sanger’s sculpture about anxiety and public transport.”

Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
The Scotsman, 22nd December 2022

Awards

SSA New Graduate Award 2022 at DJCAD Degree Show
Arusha Gallery Award at SSA Annual Exhibition 2022

Installatiion by Tilda Watson — “**What you saw in the night**” (detail). Kinetic sculpture, drawings and audio installation at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.

Background

I grew up in England, in rural Hampshire, going to school and college in Winchester. I moved to Leeds in 2018 to study an Arts Foundation Diploma at Leeds Arts University. A year later, I moved to Dundee in Scotland where I completed a BA Hons in Art & Philosophy at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee. In May 2022 I graduated with a First Class honours degree and a Society of Scottish Artists, New Graduate Award.