Abigail Booth’s practice combines repertoires and methods rarely found together. Borrowing from a range of traditions––minimalist painting, quilting, natural dyeing and pigmentation––her works achieve an elusive, enigmatic effect. She adores familiar domestic objects, even as she transforms them utterly. Complex, time-intensive processes underpin works that project an outward simplicity. A week might be spent hand grinding bone or charred oak into a pigment, hunting for fabrics whose stains and tears offer the patina of past lives, or stitching recycled calico into a texturally rich canvas. Booth doesn’t believe in shortcuts; her work finds its identity in patient exploration. 

Abigail trained at Chelsea College of Art (BA Fine Art 2013) San Francisco Art Institute (International Exchange Program 2012) and Byam Shaw School of Art (Foundation 2010). In 2014 she established Forest + Found, an art collective with whom she works on public commissions, exhibitions and curatorial projects.

She has exhibited her work most independently at: Radnor (New York 2023) Make Hauser & Wirth (Somerset 2018/23) Amelie Maison D’Art (Paris 2019/23) New Art Centre (Roche Court 2020) Kettles Yard (Cambridge 2019) Jerwood Drawing Prize (London 2017). Awards include: Develop Your Creative Practice Fund, Arts Council England (2023), QEST Scholarship, Painting (2020). Artist Talks: Hauser & Wirth Somerset (2021/23) Crafts Council, UK (2021) Jerwood Arts, London (2019) V&A Museum, London (2016); Teaching: Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales (2023) West Dean College, Sussex (2021/23) Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2017/18) Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (2017) Milton Keynes Art Centre (2017).

Significant exhibitions as Forest + Found include: Material Beings (Cromwell Place 2023) Shallow Lands (Informality Gallery 2022) Biophilia (Make Hauser & Wirth 2021) Jerwood Makers Open (Jerwood Arts & Manchester Art Gallery 2019/20) Walking the Line (Oriel Myrddin 2019 & Ruthin Craft Centre 2018); Artist Residencies include: Make Hauser & Wirth, Braemar, Scotland (2023), Need Make Use, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (2017); Awards include: Jerwood Makers Open (Jerwood Arts 2019) Collect Open (Crafts Council 2018).