Millie Thompson is a final year student at the University of Leeds. She recently completed a placement year at L’Oréal in London as a Visual Merchandising Intern. Millie specialises in realism, themes of her work depend on a brief, but usually influenced by her own photographic material.
Painting from her own photographic material, Millie provides a unique depiction of objects in a hyper-realistic style. Themes of her work depend on a brief, however they usually all adopt a scene of familiar objects. Her latest piece, My Chaotic Routine, displays a set of everyday objects aiming to exhibit the differences between the ordinary and the out of place.
Our view of the world is shaped through one’s social/ cultural and political norms. From the way we behave, to the clothes we choose to wear, we follow a set of unwritten rules that we conform to daily. The world needs these norms to provide a fabrication of order within our society. But, when something seems to be out of place, we ask ourselves questions: Why is that there? That shouldn’t be there. That’s strange. But why is it strange? These questions initiated Millie’s exploration for this project.
Millie’s project surrounds the ‘daily routine’, and how we conform to our own norms daily, and if part of this routine is changed, it creates a feeling of being out of place and it is something we must adjust to. Her work aims to encourage viewers to use their unconscious mind to form their own narrative.
This piece explores aspects of Millie’s own daily routine in an un-orderly way to represent her chaotic and busy lifestyle that has been shaped through her own historical, geographical and cultural contexts. After feeling ‘out of place’ coming back to university after her placement year, Millie aims to project these feelings through this painting, taking inspiration from surrealist artists. The piece allows for the viewer to explore an unorthodox processing of the unconscious mind to create their own meaning behind the work. Inspired by the works of Dalí, this piece includes a set of hidden symbols that only the artist, with her conscious mind can connote.
Taking into consideration literal ‘out of place’ artworks, this piece was curated as a moveable painting. To allow it to be moved into public spaces and in the gallery for viewers to interpret their own connotations.
The piece uses a combination of acrylic paints, set on two, 61cm x 91.5cm, self-stretched and built canvas’, to not only allow the artist to explore her concept though creating, but acknowledged it as a part of her daily routine.
