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Amelia Baron is an artist and curator based in West Yorkshire. Her practice aims to visualise the themes of chaos and control in mental illness through endurance performance and installation.

The use of delicate materials and repetitive motions are often seen in Baron’s work as they take a metaphorical stance on the fragility and vulnerability of mental wellbeing. Brought up in Blackburn, Lancashire, Baron’s journey into further education was unconventional due to lengthy stays in hospital due to ill mental health. Art became, and still continues to be, a cathartic tool for recovery and a means of communication with friends, family and the wider community.

For Nature: Sensory, the artist explored the similarity between nature’s networks, in particular the Mycorrhizal system and human social support networks. The Mycorrhizal system, which is also known as the Wood Wide Web, is the complex underground system formed between fungi and plant roots. Beneath the surface this vital network shares nutrients, information, and support to enable nature to thrive and grow. Baron likens this to human emotional support systems where friends, family and peers offer empathy, encouragement and reassurance.

By creating luminous roots made from retwined jute rope, the artist aims to visualise and nurture these important networks in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

website: ameliabaron.co.uk
instagram: @ameliabaron_art

SHAPE OF THE INTANGIBLE, 2024

Tree root like structures made from retwined jute rope twist around two trees, the end of the roots nearly touching each other. The roots have been activated by UV light and emit light in a nearly pitch black woodland at night.

[Image description: In the shadows of a night time woodland area, a figure stands in a clearing between the trees. A network of luminous green tree root like structures, glowing brightly against the darkness, appear to be spreading across the woodland floor and winding up the tree trunks.]