DIRECTORS' FOREWORD
DAPHNE WRIGHT: DEEP-ROOTED THINGS
Xa Sturgis
IN CONVERSATION WITH DAPHNE WRIGHT
Barbara Dawson & Xa Sturgis
THE SPACE THEY OCCUPY
Emily LaBarge
BETWEEN ME AND MY SONS
Barbara Dawson
Daphne Wright
Deathmask, Horace, 14 June 2003, 2003
Painted plaster, 104 × 76 × 60 cm Installation View, Tyntesfield, Somerset, National Trust, 2016. Copyright National Trust Images/ James Woodley
Ugg, 2019
Mixed media, 85 × 116 × 20 cm
Ellie
(following pages)
Daphne Wright
Ugg (details), 2019
Mixed media, 85 × 116 × 20 cm
Daphne Wright
Photo:
Atkins, Ashmolean Museum
Photo: Ellie Atkins, Ashmolean Museum
ASHMOLEAN NOW: DAPHNE WRIGHT 36
Daphne Wright
Plates: Pink Dinner Plate, 2019 Mixed media, 27 × 27 × 9 cm
Photo: Ellie Atkins, Ashmolean Museum
Daphne Wright
Plates: Motif, 2019
Mixed media, 29 × 29 × 7 cm
Photo: Ellie Atkins, Ashmolean Museum
(opposite and detail above)
Daphne Wright Pet Amphibians and Reptiles, 2019 Mixed media, 135 × 104 × 5 cm
Photo: Jed Niezgoda
Daphne Wright They've taken to their beds (detail), 1997
Painted tinfoil, wire and steel
Photo: Alex Tymkow
NOW: DAPHNE WRIGHT
Daphne Wright Sons and Couch (detail), 2025 Jesmonite, dimensions variable
Photo: Jed Niezgoda
Installation view, Daphne Wright:
Standard Lamp Still Life, 2019
Mixed media, 164 × 35 × 35 cm
Tall Table with Orb, 2019
Mixed media, 113 × 31 × 31 cm
Aloe Vera Plant, 2019
Mixed media, 135 × 39 × 39 cm
Woman, 2019
Mixed media, 153 × 30 × 35 cm
Clothes Rack, 2019
Mixed media, 145 × 55 × 60 cm
Photo: Jed Niezgoda
A quiet mutiny, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 2019
(Left to right)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daphne Wright would like to thank Xa Sturgis, Barbara Dawson and the staff of Ashmolean Museum and Hugh Lane Galley for their commitment to the artworks and exhibitions; Steve Haines and John Brennan, with whom she worked, respectively, to cast and paint Sons and Couch; Emily LaBarge for her essay; the Arteffects team, Georgina Shire, Brigid Corcoran, Eileen O’Sullivan and John Reid for their contribution to the project; Mary McCarthy, Dawn Williams, Penelope Curtis, Fiona Bradley, Christina Kennedy, Johanne Mullan, Julia Carver, Shirley MacWilliam, and Jane Hamlyn and Ali MacGilp at Frith Street Gallery for continued support; and Arts Council Ireland and Culture Ireland for the Major Award and funding. Special thanks to Agnes Valencak, Declan McCarthy, Frances Freedman, Emily Magnuson, Ilenia Scerra and Ocky Murray.
Ashmolean NOW:
Daphne Wright – Deep-Rooted Things
13 June 2025 to 8 February 2026
Copyright © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, 2025
All images unless otherwise stated © Daphne Wright
Courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London
Xa Sturgis, Barbara Dawson and Emily LaBarge have asserted their moral rights to be identified as the authors of this work.
British Library Cataloguing in Publications Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-910807-67-5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
Catalogue designed by Ocky Murray Printed and bound in Wales by Gomer Press
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In partnership with Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
With major support from Arts Council Ireland
The creation of new artworks is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Arts council of Ireland/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
Additional support from:
Ashmolean Collective
Frith Street Gallery, London Culture Ireland
