Lydia Pettit

#LydiaPettit

Born in 1991, Towson, Maryland.

Lives and works in London, UK.

Lydia Pettit’s work explores trauma, body image and self-identity. Using herself as a model, depicted in a hyper-real manner, all the quirks and imperfections of her body showing blatantly, she questions how the female image is registered and accepted, and addresses the complex impact of the objectification of women within society.

Her materials range from large expressive oil paintings to intimate, figurative embroideries within quilts which create new realities spanning painting, textile and sculpture.

The paintings explore the experience of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the politics of the body, using self-portraiture as a vehicle to process and communicate. The body is a host to trauma and becomes a battleground in itself in the push and pull between recovery and regression, love and disgust, tenderness and callousness.

The textile pieces capture this eerie experience using disjointed compositions, mixed materials, and textures including patchwork, hand embroidery, and both flat and raised quilting. It speaks to the dark comedy of living with mental illness, the ups and the downs, and the complications of recovery.

“My works are confrontational depictions of my own inward gaze, forcing the viewer to reckon with the realities of my body and mind, and their own viewpoints on the struggles women face with sexual abuse, trauma, body politics, and mental health.” – Lydia Pettit. 

Selected biography (pdf)