Laura Oldfield Ford

First Prize
Entry in English

Laura Oldfield Ford, who was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, in 1973, is a London-based artist and writer concerned with spatial narratives, contested space, architecture and memory. Her work is a psychogeographic mapping of de-industrialised zones, rooted in a multidisciplinary practice, which draws on her involvement in subcultural scenes and protest movements. Most recently she has tended to engage in an intense scrutiny of landscape, religious zealotry, nationalism and class.

Oldfield Ford completed a BA at the Slade in 2001 and an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2007. In 2013–14 she was Stanley Picker Fellow at Kingston University, London. She is author of Savage Messiah ( Verso, 2011 ) and is currently a researcher at the RCA.

Recent solo shows include 8 Million Kami at CCA, Kitakyushu ( December 2016 ) and Alpha/Isis/Eden at The Showroom, London ( January–March 2017 ), as well as the group show The Sky is Falling at CCA, Glasgow ( April 2017 ). Recent exhibitions include Chthonic Reverb ( Grand Union, Birmingham, 2016 ), Itinerant Code ( Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, 2015 ), Ruin Lust ( Tate Britain, London, 2014 ), Seroxat, Smirnoff, THC ( Stanley Picker Gallery, London, 2014 ), Anarchy Unmasked ( British Library, London, 2014 ), Soft Estate ( Bluecoat, Liverpool, 2013 ), Desire Lines ( Caja Madrid, Barcelona, 2012 ), There is a Place ( New Art Gallery, Walsall, 2012 ), Recording Britain ( Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2012 ), Orbitecture ( Focal Point Gallery, Southend, 2011 ) and Poster Sites ( Arnolfini, Bristol, 2011 ).

Oldfield Ford has contributed to publications, including The Guardian, ArtReview and Granta.