CARA MACWILLIAM
Biography
Cara Macwilliam (b.1972) is a multi-disciplinary self-taught artist who uses her practice to explore her fascination with energy; from the physical and emotional, to the metaphysical*. This interest comes from her stance as disabled person living with an energy limiting illness. There is power, play, flow and movement in her art – everything she says her illness has taken away. Using automatism, Macwilliam’s work spans various media including drawing, painting, sculpture and digital. Often layered and intricate, they are built up from spontaneous, unfiltered expression that reveals itself through the medium selected for that day. Her multidisciplinary approach creates a world where we find small spirits and beings in perpetual movement. Fine lines and delicate marks always feature.
“I have suffered a number of traumas and creating is such an anchor and a supportive ritual… the marks made coalesce with my nervous system to create an energetic shift within. It's like every imprint laid down is a moment of love for my sensitised body, touching every fibre and cell of my being.”
Macwilliam also has a research-led practice, conversing with deaf, disabled, visually impaired and neurodivergent creatives to show institutions and curators new ways of embedding access at the inception of creation. Awarded a DYCP by Arts Council England (2022), this supported a period of R&D exploring a combination of physical and digital processes, moving images and vibrational soundscapes; alongside researching the lack of accessibility in digital installations in institutions.
*Metaphysical means relating to the study of reality and existence, or to ideas that are outside of human sense perception.
Cara at home, 2024
Works
Click the thumbnails to see larger images and more details. Further artworks are available on request. Click on the button here to listen to an audio description by Harry Baxter, about the three different styles that Cara Macwilliam works within.
Selected Exhibitions
2024 Transcendents II, 2024, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York
2024 Staff Picks: Best of the Year, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York
2024 In Clay, Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London
2023 Instinctive Energies, Mura Ma, Marple
2023 There’s Something in There, Halle Saint Pierre, Paris
2023 Why We Linger, Darbyshire, London
2023 Outsider Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York
2022 Creative Spirits, College of Psychic Studies, London
2022 Oxmarket Open, Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester
2022 Outsider Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion in New York with Jennifer Lauren Gallery
2021 Shapes and Patterns in Creativity, The Yellow Edge Gallery
