Meet Kirsty Harris—a bold voice in contemporary art whose work captures both the awe and the weight of a world. Growing up surrounded by the imagery of protest and political satire, Kirsty’s artistic journey was shaped by activism and a keen sense of social responsibility. Now, through her strikingly large-scale, explosive canvases, she explores the unsettling beauty of catastrophe and the resilience needed to confront it.

In this interview, Kirsty opens up about her influences, the strength it takes to navigate the art world, and her artistic aspirations. With a touch of rebellious energy and her “thick skin” toward rejection, she reflects on the struggles, wins, and transformative power of art. Read on and absolutely keep an eye on her portfolio; she's one to watch!

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How has your upbringing and cultural background influenced your artistic journey and creative expression?

In our doorway at home, visitors were welcomed by Thatcher and Reagan parodied in a massive, Gone With The Wind-style, movie poster. Complete with a mushroom cloud in the background - it was almost like a precursor to memes. The anticipation of piling onto a coach and ending up in some seemingly random field, waving our little homemade banners on bamboo sticks, is an evocative memory from my childhood. We’d be singing and shouting “Ban the bomb” at the CND protest having collected pin badges and photocopied leaflets. The atmosphere was potent, thrilling and sometimes wet, muddy, miserable. I didn’t catch on to what we were all shouting about until later. My parents were activists, they have never said, “Why can’t you paint anything nice?”.

How crucial is it for your audience to grasp the message behind your artwork?

I want it to feel confrontational, even abrupt at first, to make paintings so vast that all they see and think about for a moment is that mushroom cloud. Then hopefully it unravels into something more. I got a review of a painting 10 years ago that said “…but the sleek, expertly painted surfaces distract from any uncomfortable narratives, and offer, rather, a version of disaster that is easily consumed.”.

 

Thinking of that criticism doesn’t make me upset or embarrassed, which is strange because as a human being moving through the world - I am easily embarrassed and a bit shy. It didn’t affect the way I make work as I have a strange confidence in it most of the time that isn’t easily shaken, almost defiant. My work is definitely not for everyone but it is definitely for me. I know what I want to do and if I don’t know then I’m testing things out until I know. It can be undeniably frustrating but the journey there is also the thing. There have been so many rejections for exhibitions and applications over the years that this skin is so thick it’s like armour!! The disappointment bounces off and I’m onto something else. Tomorrow, of course, I might go the other way and start doubting everything.

 

Artists can never ensure they will get the reaction they want from their work. I like the idea of conjuring up the reaction that you want from inside your own body and working towards that. The ideal balance I’ve found is in feeling proud that what you put out is accomplished, by your own standards, while staying experimental enough to keep everything moving at a good pace. Not easy, but you can’t please everyone. Some people will walk straight past while others are stopped in their tracks and that is great!

Contemplate the role and responsibilities of an artist in society today. How do you perceive the role of an artist in today's society? What responsibilities, if any, do you believe artists have towards their communities or the broader public?

At the RA Varnishing Day, Church service (which reminded me what a powerful potion the experience of Church with choir can be) the female Vicar said something that stuck with me - artists can be many things, not just decorators. Artists are truth-tellers. I’m paraphrasing but I often think about it. It is hard to pin down further. I feel that proclaiming artists must make overtly “socially responsible” artwork is constricting and unfair. The personal is political so if it’s not immediately obvious in the work, you just have to look more carefully.

 

The art that is put out every day is a reflection of that artist’s world, whether the physical world or the world inside their head and what they think about and feel. In some ways, they are filtering all their experiences to date. Some of it may also be reflecting the concerns of a big gallery and that particular “art world” and on the other end are outsider artists who continue making (amazing) work with no concerns about progressing their artistic career. This can feel very pure and thrilling. Dumbing down art to make it easy to grasp is not the way, however, the text accompanying the art should be much more accessible so the public can get more involved in it. How often do we read a handout and not feel anything or be any the wiser about why the artist chose these materials or why it is this particular scale, basic sh*t that we all want to know. But we do find out the exhibition somehow relates to a sentence a French Philosopher once uttered 200 years ago haha. Burning myself there (fire emoji).

 

I did a workshop at the Whitechapel Gallery recently with teenagers and they were quite a tough crowd. We were designing/drawing/painting t-shirts and it took a while to get going but before long they were discussing how they could start a business selling them. From low-income backgrounds, they had very entrepreneurial ways of thinking and we all know how important a creative mind is for this. So, tapping into young people’s creativity is an amazing feeling and can open up whole new ways of thinking for them and me.

Discuss your methods for entering a creative state of mind. Do you have any rituals, routines, or a particular environment that helps stimulate your creativity?

I’m always fussing around at home, feeling agitated, then ten minutes later when I hit the park with my little dog I take some deep breaths and try to imagine absorbing the greens. I set a walking rhythm. That has become a sort of meditation, the way I get my mind in check. I know I’m lucky to pass through a beautiful park to get to my space. 

 

At the studio, it’s a battle of wills not to go on the computer first off but we have no wifi so that helps. I have a hand-me-down iPad which I use to display images, it helps to keep me away from phone distractions. Doesn’t always work. My main struggle now, and forever, is to try not to overwork my paintings and rather achieve more with fewer brush strokes. On the days when painting goes well, it feels amazing like no one can touch you and it all just flows so well. It’s nasty to say it feels like you are on drugs but…it does! And then there are days when you feel you are regressing and someone has crept in and stolen the ability to paint away from you in the night. It’s so frustrating - I’ve done my 10,000 hours of training why the f*ck can’t I paint today? Often just before you have to leave the studio your best marks are sort of expelled from your body and then you have to STOP. 

If you were elected as Prime Minister, what would be your first initiative regarding arts and culture?

To lower tuition fees, incentives to make empty spaces, shops & offices etc. immediately available to artists and performers. To increase creative time in schools and not be so short-sighted. To have more lessons like music production, design briefs, creative problem solving, and break dancing! For schools to visit artist studios and talk to artists to see what this world is really like. To reinstate all foundation courses at local colleges - the foundation was so important to me. This is all obvious stuff. This world we live in is driven by imagery and design, everywhere you look, it’s hard to comprehend that raising young people not proficient in basic visual/artistic skills is the right way forward.

Identify five habits or concerns that you are actively working to change or release from your artistic practice.

✧ Be brave 

✧ Be brave

✧ Be brave

✧ Be brave

✧ Be brave

Looking at the future, what are your long-term goals and aspirations as a professional artist?

Some of my most powerful memories are visiting museums, and getting butterflies in my stomach, not dissimilar to the feeling of being in love. We came to London on a trip from my Foundation course at Wakefield College in Yorkshire, to see Sensation in 1997 at the Royal Academy. I was 18 years old and it was the most overwhelming, exciting experience, I still look through the catalogue all the time. This is my life now, a pursuit of making art. No question. In 2009 my friend took me to see an installation by Annette Messeger at the Hayward where a massive sea of red parachute silk billowed at you over and over. There was a moment when I realised - I didn’t even have to understand this piece of work. It can affect you so strongly that you forget about analysing and just lean into experiencing it fully. Let it take over. Again, recently in Berlin, we talked our way into the old air raid shelter that is now the Boros Foundation art collection. It was booked up for weeks but they acquiesced to my friend’s charming smiles and my pleading of how it was so important to the development of my artwork to see what’s inside. What a space! Wow. The history imbued in the walls, the artworks, the whole thing was weird and magnificent.

 

These experiences solidified my mind about what I must do. I don’t want to sound too grand and overblown but I want to see my work in museums and create these experiences for other people. To make them wonder, as I did, what is possible. In the meantime, I am always visualising my work in ginormous derelict spaces, I dream of massive projections in the dark that make it feel like the room is shaking. Smaller rooms where it’s one-in-one-out and you kneel down to find something tiny and incredible. Performative exhibitions, timer switches, secretive instructions and codes. Just writing all this down is making my heart beat faster. This is the long game but I have to be less patient now.