About
Artist Statement
Laura Ribbons’ work explores what we can learn from other species and considers how we exist in symbiosis across human and non-human communities. Ribbons celebrates the strength, resilience and mythology that may be drawn from interactions with plants and the desire to find solace and resolution in nature. Her practice constitutes a continued dialogue around ideas of survival, hope and well-being.
Ribbons works intuitively and enjoys the push and pull between the nature of the materials and the control she imposes, working with bold colours and form. Ribbons frequently works with repurposed textiles, often leftover from creative workshops. She enjoys the materiality of working with odd shapes, stretching the material, stitching into it, and using the marks already created by others as her starting point. Her works have increasingly moved away from traditional paintings and instead draw their influence from sculpture and installations.
Through her practice Ribbons explores her personal connection to other species, as well as asking the viewer to question their own. She believes strongly that only by re-examining and radically altering the way we think of and interact with other species can we avert the worst effects of the climate crisis.
Laura Ribbons’ work explores what we can learn from other species and considers how we exist in symbiosis across human and non-human communities. Ribbons celebrates the strength, resilience and mythology that may be drawn from interactions with plants and the desire to find solace and resolution in nature. Her practice constitutes a continued dialogue around ideas of survival, hope and well-being.
Ribbons works intuitively and enjoys the push and pull between the nature of the materials and the control she imposes, working with bold colours and form. Ribbons frequently works with repurposed textiles, often leftover from creative workshops. She enjoys the materiality of working with odd shapes, stretching the material, stitching into it, and using the marks already created by others as her starting point. Her works have increasingly moved away from traditional paintings and instead draw their influence from sculpture and installations.
Through her practice Ribbons explores her personal connection to other species, as well as asking the viewer to question their own. She believes strongly that only by re-examining and radically altering the way we think of and interact with other species can we avert the worst effects of the climate crisis.
Photo: Jorge Stride, 2025.
Photo: Jorge Stride, 2025.
Bio
Laura Ribbons (b.1990) is an artist, curator, facilitator and environmentalist. She graduated from Wimbledon College of Art in 2012 with a BA honours degree in Fine Art (Painting), she also holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Kent, 2016. She has exhibited across the UK and internationally, including in Spain, where she lived from 2018-2019. A number of her works feature in private collections.
As a curator and socially-engaged practitioner, Laura is inspired by the idea that art has the power to start difficult conversations, while simultaneously bringing people together and creating space for collaborative working and creative play. Laura has worked with institutions including Towner Eastbourne, Pallant House Gallery and Watts Gallery-Artist Village. In 2024 she undertook a solo-exhibition, Ancestors, at Trebah Botanic Gardens in Cornwall (October 2024). Her most recent project Plants Make Places was awarded National Lottery funding through Arts Council England. It encompassed mutliple community collaborations and resulted in a solo exhibition at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery which ran from August 2025-February 2026. The project explored how we exist in community with plants, how they shape the places we live and our inform our identities.
Laura currently lives and works in Hastings with her partner children’s book author-illustrator, Jon Lander.
Laura Ribbons (b.1990) is an artist, curator, facilitator and environmentalist. She graduated from Wimbledon College of Art in 2012 with a BA honours degree in Fine Art (Painting), she also holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Kent, 2016. She has exhibited across the UK and internationally, including in Spain, where she lived from 2018-2019. A number of her works feature in private collections.
As a curator and socially-engaged practitioner, Laura is inspired by the idea that art has the power to start difficult conversations, while simultaneously bringing people together and creating space for collaborative working and creative play. Laura has worked with institutions including Towner Eastbourne, Pallant House Gallery and Watts Gallery-Artist Village. In 2024 she undertook a solo-exhibition, Ancestors, at Trebah Botanic Gardens in Cornwall (October 2024). Her most recent project Plants Make Places was awarded National Lottery funding through Arts Council England. It encompassed mutliple community collaborations and resulted in a solo exhibition at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery which ran from August 2025-February 2026. The project explored how we exist in community with plants, how they shape the places we live and our inform our identities.
Laura currently lives and works in Hastings with her partner children’s book author-illustrator, Jon Lander.