Marie-Louise Plum, b.1981
Multidisciplinary all-rounder: paint, print, collage and multimedia art, both analogue and digital. I often incorporate written pieces into my visual art, in the form of free verse poetry, prose and short stories. I am a collector and archivist, and my artworks cross over with both my work as a mudlark and cataloguer of burial grounds.
My practise takes shape using a three step method of searching (for an idea), finding (often when walking London) and researching (investigating past, present, future related to my idea). Using traditional and contemporary methods, I create provocative works representing the human condition, social history and sense of place, often following themes of love, loss and letting go.
I am particularly interested in signs, symbols and subconscious narratives relating to those topics. My works usually incorporate found items, such as objects, digital images and field recordings.
Most of my projects run into long term, conceptual multidisciplinary bodies of work. I love to work across different mediums, taking an idea from its inception, through different processes, often finding its resolution in an organic way. The work defines itself through its process.
Through my works I invite the viewer to approach a world they might already be familiar with, but do their best to shy away from.
Most importantly, I am asking you to see, think, and consider.
You may have seen or heard me at: St. Paul's Cathedral, Wellcome Collection, Roman Amphitheatre Guildhall, The National Maritime Museum, BBC Radio 4, Royal College of Art, William Morris Gallery, Edinburgh and Stockholm Fringe Festivals, amongst other places.
Selected Exhibitions
2022
History in Your Hands (as Old Father Thames)
Curated by the Thames Museum for Totally Thames '22
National Maritime Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, Watermen's Hall, Roman Amphitheatre.
2021
History in Your Hands (as Old Father Thames)
Curated by the Thames Museum
St. Paul's Cathedral and Cutlers' Hall London, UK
2020
#VirtualVisions / William Blake Festival
2019
Foragers of the Foreshore (as Old Father Thames)
Group exhibition, curated by Florence Evans
OXO Barge House London, UK
2018
Moore Plum - Paintings, Music & Things
Stash Gallery London, UK
Imitation Solero
Group exhibition, curated by Broken Grey Wires
The Soup Kitchen Manchester, UK
2016
Silver Linings
Group exhibition, curated by The Unseen Emporium/Victoria Tischler
The Koppel Project, London, UK
One Bare Foot Square
Group exhibition, curated by Uncooked Culture
Van Den Geest Hermitage Museum Amsterdam, The Netherlands
What Goes On In the Mind (as Mental Spaghetti)
Mental Spaghetti/AIMS group exhibition
Town Hall Gallery & Museum Oxford, UK
The Mind Machine (as Mental Spaghetti)
Group exhibition
Menier Gallery London, UK
2012 - 14
Once Upon Again (as Pack of Wolves Collective)
New Folk Visionaries (as Pack of Wolves Collective)
Group exhibitions
Winns Gallery London Milkwood Gallery Cardiff, UK
2011
H A P P Y L A N D
Postcards Festival
Jacksons Lane Theatre, London, UK
2010
Space Made Live
Group exhibition curated by Small Media Large for West End Festival
The ArtHouse Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Selected Teaching & Public Engagement
2021
Greenwich in 50 Objects
Mudlarking and social history seminar
National Maritime Museum London, UK
2020
Freedom to Express
Series of workshops aimed at SEND children
Free Space Project London, UK
2018
'Fr-iction'
Guest lecturer, Visual Comms PHD group
Royal College of Art London, UK
Guest lecturer, Creative Arts & Mental Health
Queen Mary University London, UK
2016
Diagnostic Portraiture
Drawing workshop for Daily Life Ltd
Vestry House Museum London, UK
Mental Fight Club
Panel guest, ReThink Psychiatry
The Dragon Café London, UK
2014
39 Hoe Street
Drawing workshops for
The Big Draw London, UK
2013
Mental Health in the Media
Guest Lecturer, Faculty of Media and Communication
Bournemouth University
2010
Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival
Illustration workshop
Glasgow, UK
Curation and Production
2017
Scratch The Surface: Dialogue (as Mental Spaghetti)
Arts Festival Curated by Collective//Pod, co-curating/producing London elements of this Coventry-based arts festival.
Herbert Gallery, CCCA, Fargo Village Coventry, UK
Inside Out : Outside In
Exhibition of work from Medium Secure Unit residents
The Dragon Café London, UK
Published Work
The Caterpillar Magazine with John Hegley Issue 7 Winter 2014
Thrill Murray Colouring Book for Belly Kids
Forest Fringe Newspaper for Forest Fringe
Big Team Scribble Colouring Book for The Scribble Project
Selected Performances
2017
Suburban English Magick
Durational live painting, poetry and audio installation
CCCA, Coventry
2015-2016
Roving Diagnostic Unit (as Mental Spaghetti)
Performance tour with Bobby Baker and Daily Life Ltd
Wellcome Collection, Shuffle Festival and William Morris Gallery, London, UK
2014
The Lights Are On
Durational live painting, poetry and audio installation
Fox Court, London, UK
2014
Running With Wolves (as Pack of Wolves Collective)
Masked performance tour Pack of Wolves
Stockholm Fringe Festival
2010
Mask!
Masked performances, site specific installations, UK tour
The Old Police Station, Deptford, London
Forest Fringe, Edinburgh
The Arthouse, Glasgow
Press
Painting of the Month | Chris Tosic/ Harry Pye, Le Document
Interview with Marie-Louise Plum | Juliana Vannucchi, Obras De Arte
'Creating Happy': About Mental Spaghetti | Laura Barton, The Guardian
The Mind Machine, exhibition Review | Judith McNicol, Raw Vision
The Mind Machine, exhibition Review | Colin Hambrook, DAO
AIMS and Mental Spaghetti | Deborah Caulfield, DAO
What Goes On In the Mind, exhibition Preview | Oxford Mail
What Goes On In the Mind, exhibition Review | The Oxford Times