Staff Profile

Messua Poulin-Wolff staff profile photo

Messua Poulin-Wolff

Biography

Before joining Buckinghamshire New University in 2020, I’d started guest lecturing at different UK universities while sharing my time between my studio, leading workshops and working in various art institutions (National Portrait Gallery; Dulwich Picture Gallery; among others).

I studied for my BA in Fine Art and MFA in Contemporary Studio Practice at Kingston University, London. I am currently undertaking a practice-based PhD at the Royal College of Art.

My research is rooted in the expanded field of painting, focusing on process, time, and materiality. In the current context of late-capitalist temporalities, I explore my intuitive conviction that painting's pertinence increasingly lies in its unique relationship with time. Thus, I investigate slowness as a methodology and model rooted in my specific approach of marking time through materials leading to counter-temporalities.

My paintings result from their processes: improvisation between body, materials, and milieu over time. My work starts with the fabrication of colour from my every day. I forage, grow or transform waste into inks or dyes, leading to actions beyond the canvas, such as walking, foraging, and gardening. These activities sit alongside other repetitive gestures–dyeing, staining, sewing, weaving, drawing or painting lines–to imprint time in a tangible form.

My specialist knowledge has led me to work with various entities such as CAS, Turf Project, the Catholic Institute in Korea, on projects, residences and exhibitions. My work has been shown throughout the U.K and internationally (Japan, France, Switzerland and Korea).

My greatest accolade to date is my work touring with the Jerwood Drawing Prize (2016) alongside being the recipient of the Brian Mcann Drawing Prize (2015).