Copying is an integral tool within drawing. It is a method of experiential learning or learning through doing. But art history and its institutions control what content is available to copy and its context. My drawing practice questions and disrupts this influence, exploring the margin between what a practitioner does and what art history says they do. Investigating my reliance on art history revealed a lack of drawings by artist women from which to copy and learn. Searching archives and collections for an art historical lineage for my practice left me frustrated and disappointed, but established the importance of writing, annotation and marginalia in the development of my critical voice. Whilst the role and value of copying is contested, I find it to be a powerful means of interrogating what art history tells us to think and establishing our own, often oppositional standpoint.
EMMA LOUISE HOLLAWAY Email: elhvisual@outlook.com Instagram: @elhvisual Website: elhvisual.com