Molly Brown Prints

Molly works with relief printing and has been using an exploratory process applying caustic soda to etch different levels into lino then working into the surface with a variety of tools. This process allows for drawing and gestural marks to be used alongside traditional carving and results in imagery that is unsettled, playful and full of dappled movement.

Molly’s prints float between observation and imagination: scenes full of weathering, undergrowth and strange, intimate plant-minded labours. She uses observations of plant life as a framework for exploring both utopian imaginings – celebrations of a joyful, ecological sense of belonging – and anxious thoughts around alienation. The process of working down into the layers of the plates feels like drawing out embedded stories and becomes a metaphor for deep time changes and human labours in our landscapes.

Molly worked for ten years in sustainable agriculture and food growing before turning to creative work full time in 2018 and brings a strong interest in ecology and plant sciences to her printmaking.

Her 2022 MA exhibition series ‘Holding Place’ focuses on haptic experiences within plantscapes. Current work in progress looks at the slow, plant focused labours of gardening, fruit picking and processing.