Meet Georgina Peach
Georgina Peach is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, performance, music and immersive workshop experiences.
A history
People tell me my creative practice varies widely. I use different styles and mediums, from hyperrealism to abstraction and from oil paint to installation and performance depending on the message I want to convey with my art.
My paintings, performance and music are inspired by my diverse life experiences, of which I feel very fortunate to have had in abundance. I am lucky to have been born with a high level of curiosity, determination and imagination which can get you into all sorts of situations and opportunities!
Where to begin..
Firstly, I have always loved water.
From being a toddler sitting in every puddle (ignoring my mum's pleading from the sidelines) to being an adult, finding any opportunity to escape the cold British winters from which I grew up in.
Swimming pools in sunlit places particularly imprinted a sublime-rapture: the dance of light playing in water and its strong association with the positivity and optimism of being in a warm climate, in direct contrast to the depression experienced by Brits in winter..
These aspects have inspired much of my paintings such as the Pool, Shape-scape and Swimmer Series. I painted from a young age. Not having my talent recognised particularly while growing up, I taught myself to paint portraits and had, even as a young person, experienced the addiction-like craving to paint whenever I experienced something beautiful, be it love for someone one or an inspiring view in nature.
Second, from the age of 16 I have suffered from PMDD: monthly premenstrual-anxiety and depression. Doctors didn't take me seriously for a long time and I had no idea what was "wrong" with me (nothing was innately wrong with my character as I'd internalised.. but I needed medical attention that I didn't receive for at least ten years of suffering).
It became a fight for me against the jail sentence of monthly depression that I've lived with for my adult life. The harrowing time spent in dark, dark depression every couple of weeks followed by relief tinged with the dread that it would be back again soon. It has forced me to seek far and wide for answers and to notice anything that makes the slightest difference to keeping the beast at bay.
Such as the calming affect of water on the nervous system. Diving into a cold sea always felt like a reset, like being reborn. Now I know the science behind this (mental health education has come along way since the Covid pandemic) but I was instinctively drawn to water.
My painting talents weren't encouraged by those around me so I decided to study Physics, specialising in Quantum Physics at Bristol University and then Oceanography (Ocean Physics) at the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton. I worked at sea for many years to capture and analyse waves, currents and tides for the purposes of marine engineering: laying communication cables, building offshore wind farms and calculating environmental predictions.
Physics and Oceanography feature heavily in my painting series, including Universal Base Layer, regarding the unseen realms of our existence: the imperceptible patterns that shape our world.
While working as an Oceanographer in Wales, I volunteered for Marine Conservation Society, being highly concerned by the effect of plastic in our natural world. I created sculptures using gelatine jelly and plastic found on local beaches. Displayed as desserts, complete with spoons, suggesting the viewer to eat them, the pieces gradually melted throughout the exhibition to reveal their undesirable contents.
I exhibited these and other works in my solo show Plastic Pelagic ("pelagic"meaning ocean).
After working full time in the marine survey industry for 6 years, I felt a strong need to explore; to experience freedom and the world so I flew to New Zealand to visit my aunt and uncle, to seek adventure!
After 5 months of woof-ing and driving around the north island of New Zealand, I decided to give up my steady job back home when I was offered a residency by Koru on Devon gallery in Taranaki. There I made a body of work called Total Submersion, exploring my experiences of surfing and how water distorts light to make a mockery of our vision and perception, which I exhibited in the gallery, having a grand opening with friends I had made while living there.
Being a sufferer of regular mood changes that are largely out of my control and from studying the strangeness and enormity of the universe in physics and in general, I have developed a humour about the absurdity of existence and the importance of recognising the limits to our brains, knowledge and perception. I try to portray this in much of my art work including in the Underwater Portraits series: to communicate how easily our perception of reality can be distorted, just by looking through a water's surface at someone's face.
After New Zealand, I decided to accompany my then-boyfriend to Australia, in the hope of developing my poor abilities at surfing, along the beautiful East coast. I developed my painting series Surf and Shape-scapes. As it does, time went by and suddenly I'd spent 5 years in Australia, living predominantly in the infamous Byron Bay.
While there I started practising mindfulness and yoga which have changed my life! I started to live more in my senses and less in my mind. It was probably the most content I have ever felt. Just the sensation of breathing became a joy in itself.
It was a productive time, I was recruited by the highly successful artist, Lindy Lee, to be her Studio Manager and work on a $14m commissioned steel sculpture for the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.
In addition, I worked as the Creative Assistant to the director of a visual art festival, Art Byron Festival, which took over the region to display the work of local and international artists, boosting the careers of emerging artists while exhibiting them next to highly prestigious ones. I won the festival a $60k grant so that they could continue to run for 2 more years.
Living next to the beach, I surfed or ran every morning and practised yoga and mindfulness. It was the best way to start the day with outdoor exercise while also being social as lots of people would be on the beach at that time - many nervous system-needs fulfilled before the day has even started! I didn't ever get ill and the depression I was subjected to improved.
I'd then head to the art studio, the Seed Gallery, I'd discovered in the creative heart of the industrial estate (duzza as we called it) of Byron Bay. Developing my arts practice in a large shared warehouse alongside jewellers, painters and event planners. I used the gallery space at the front of the warehouse to host my solo painting shows and swing dance events.
Next to the warehouse was a well-known event and living space for creatives that would host numerous parties and interesting events, The Drive Thru - it was The Place To Be! To find inspiration and to have a good time with great people! It was one of the main reasons for Byron Bay's reputation as a creative hub. Sadly, it has since been pulled down to make into a car park and gym.. but enough of that story.
I became involved in the events they ran, building installations and making games as I'd always had a love of DIY. I also became a performer!
Writing and performing comedic characters for cabarets and festivals to bring joy to people and encouraging them to connect with each other through play and collaboration.
I decided to force myself to develop self-confidence by becoming a teacher of painting: progressing from often feeling shy to leading workshops weekly for diverse audiences of 20 - 50 people! Every week for 3 years!
To take this confidence-building phase further, I developed my singing voice by joining choirs. I had started to write songs while driving along long stretches in New Zealand, mostly about the bizarre characters I'd come across. I found the joy and playfulness of self-expression through song! A much easier conduit for creativity than visual art in many ways, being a more social activity as well as a lighter one to travel with!
In a chance encounter with an Australian artist who had "died multiple times during a brain surgery operation" he'd had years before, he imparted the wisdom he'd gained unconscious on the operation table, in the moments of crossing over: that the most important values in life are to "Play and be Kind". This resonated deeply with me and I have since tried to live with these values - seeking them out in communities, the people I surround myself with and striving to act and think in ways aligned with them.
Play makes our nervous systems feel safe: experiencing laughter and finding fun in our activities and thoughts signals to our bodies that we are in a safe place. It relaxes and energises us!
My work as a comedic character and as a game-maker and facilitator for events directly came out of this eureka moment. I have since discovered clowning and improv, other outlets for play, laughter and connection with others.
The return to England story: During Covid I started riding a motorbike, an old Kawazaki KZ250 which was bought for me by a friend. This beautiful machine had been sitting on a farmer's land for years. We fixed it up, I got my license and rode it around the hinterland and on my daily commute through forested mountains! The flower-scented air of the region was a dream to ride through, especially after practising mindfulness daily which grounded me firmly in the present moment and the pure wonder of the environment I experienced, with heightened senses without my mind throwing distracting thoughts at me.
However, when the foot of the bike's kickstand came off one day, I didn't get around to fixing it. This made the bike slightly unstable on uneven ground (always fix things that break in your life or they will come back to hurt you eventually, be it a vehicle, a roof, your body or a relationship!).
While riding it through a wooded area, I stopped the bike to check the clutch as the wire seemed to have broken. As I was crouched down inspecting it, the bike fell on me due to the unstable kickstand and pinned me to the eucalyptus bark-strewn ground. I managed to push it off me and haul it back up through the excruciating pain and much swearing! But it tore my knee badly in 3 places and I could barely walk. I was unable to earn money as I was self-employed and worked as a swimming pool maintainer at the time. I had been living and travelling in my van, an old Toyota Townace that I'd fixed up and adored but that I couldn't manage living in it while I was unable to walk.
A friend kindly invited me to look after his caravan for a couple of months while he was away. It was situated in a caravan park up the coast, close to the beach but far from friends and my life in Byron Bay. I was forced into solitude, nursing my knee for months. Eventually I decided to return to the UK, something that I'd known in myself was an inevitability - living in Australia was wonderful in many ways but I missed the depth of meaning you get from being in the place you grew up in and from being in close proximity to family and long-term friends.
It was interesting to return to England.
I came back with a very different perspective and heightened sense of optimism, even with the hindered mobility of my knee. I'd done so many interesting things and had met people who had taught me many fantastic skills and new perspectives! I came back feeling optimistic and that anything is possible!
However, I failed to notice the heavy weights that english people seem to wear relating to politics, weather and history. I began to miss the upbeat outlook of the people I experienced in Australia! The general pessimism of England and the problems that I'd left behind but returned to slowly settled on me again without my notice. It is hard to see it until you go elsewhere and experience optimism again.
After a while of living in the small town I grew up in, healing my knee and discovering clowning in the nearby city of Bristol, I continued the direction I'd been on in Australia by exploring the UK's theatre scene. I got work at a big venue at the Edinburgh Fringe as a Technician, then the next year as a performer for the well-established comedy duo A&E Comedy and the next year as a Theatre Producer and Agent for a theatre production company!
I moved to Bristol and continued my self-employed work in theatre while also getting involved with music events in Bristol, working as a Stage Manager for Jelli Records and performing my original songs at songwriter nights. I continue to paint; to write and to perform comedic characters.
I feel very lucky to have had the experiences I've had so far. Life isn't easy and I feel lucky to have gained the perspectives I've come across along the way, to not take life too seriously and to try to make a game of things and treat people kindly, including yourself.
I take notes from surfing - to always keep your eyes on the direction you want to go in and your body and life will follow (along a wave but it applies to life too), to stay focused on what you want, to check-in with what you want daily and prioritise them (like the hugely successful artists I've worked for) and to build skills in taming your mind using mindfulness, to develop the precious skill of remaining present and aware of what you are experiencing in the moment.
I hope to continue to develop my arts practice, performance and songwriting without taking anything for granted and staying present.
Thank you for your interest, if you wish to contact me for collaboration or to commission me to make something for you, please email me on:
Georgina
