An Interview With:
Rosie Clements
Rosie Clements
In Striking a Balance Between the Virtual and Physical World.
Rosie Clements is a multifaceted artist whose practice encompasses photography, sculpture, and print, with a focus on exploring the convergence of digital and physical realms. Her passion for photography began in her teens with a digital camera gifted by her father, leading her from a journalism major to a dedicated study of photography and a master’s degree in studio art.
Clements’ artistic journey has been shaped by diverse experiences, from assisting photographers in fashion and commercial settings to working in environmental conservation. These roles, though varied, have influenced her experimental approach to art. She utilizes UV printing technology to transform digital photographs into tangible objects, often incorporating materials like bubble wrap. This innovative technique creates a dialogue between the image’s materiality and its digital origins, inviting viewers to reflect on the nature of visual consumption in the digital age.
Clements' solo exhibition at McLennon Pen Co. in Austin, TX, in 2024, marked a significant milestone in her career. Her work has been featured in prominent platforms such as BOOOOOOOM, Southwest Contemporary, Dazed, and It’s Nice That. In 2023, she was recognized on Lenscratch’s ‘26 to Watch’ list. As she continues to push artistic boundaries, Clements is excited about upcoming international exhibitions, including a group show at Toxic Arts Gallery in London, and further exploration of the interplay between digital and physical realities.
901: Can you describe your artistic journey? How did you start and what inspired you to pursue this path as an artist?
Rosie Clements: I’ve been taking pictures since I was a teenager. My dad bought a digital camera for our family to take pictures when I was around 13 years old and I became pretty obsessed with it very quickly. Since then I’ve kind of been trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into my life as a way to make money.
I’ve tried a lot of different methods for doing that. When I went to college, I started out as a journalism major and I was hoping to incorporate my photography into journalism and potentially make a career out of that. But pretty quickly I realised I didn’t know if journalism was really the right path. So I switched major to photography and focused more on really honing in on the medium. When graduation college, I assisted some established photographer – so I worked for a fashion photographer and a commercial photographer. But, whilst those were really good experiences, I wasn’t really sure if it was right for me. I guess I’m just selfish! I really just want to make the work that I want to make.
So fast-forwarding a bunch of years, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do, I wound up getting into the environmental conservation world. And whilst this seems like I’m going off track, it will end come back at some point (laughs) – I promise it will tie together! Here, I was working a bunch of strange jobs; I worked on a peach farm in California, I worked for a rainwater harvesting organization in the desert, I worked on building trails for national parks. However, I always found a way to incorporate photography. And I think that’s really important. I was figuring out a path for myself that was fulfilling to me but then always finding a way to integrate photography into it.
I just recently graduated from the University of Texas with my master’s degree in studio art with an emphasis on photography. It was a great opportunity to return to my practice. So now I’ve just left my job of the past six years (which was in environmental conservation communications) and I’m just now beginning to really explore what it looks like for me to, sort of, selfishly pursue my own interests and carve out a career specifically in that.
That’s a really unique and interesting journey. How do you think those uncommon experiences, such as working in the peach farms and deserts alongside your environmental conservation work, has influenced your recent art?
I’m unsure whether environmental conservation is specifically driving my work, but it’s always there in the background. I think working for non-profits for so long made me realise I’m quite a scrappy person – I don’t usually make a great amount of money and I’m always trying to figure out how I can cobble something together. And that is a huge aspect of my practice, it feels very experimental and exploratory. I’m always trying to incorporate things that I find in my day-to-day life into my work.
I think that’s really prevalent in my recent work because there’s a conversation between the material and the image. The material is this very ubiquitous thing that we see every day, that we get with our Amazon packages and then throw away, So I’m really interested in attempting to give that material more of a life.
I think, again, it fell down to experimentation. I was in grad school and I had access to all these tools and resources for the first time. Through excitement I was experimenting in every way I could possibly think of. Luckily for me our school had a small UV printer which they described as a machine that allows you to print images onto just about anything and, as you can imagine, I thought to myself that I have to just go crazy with this. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of failed attempts and experimentation. I was printing on rocks, Styrofoam, popcorn ceiling – really any material that I could put an image onto.
But one day I found a piece of bubble wrap and printed on that. For the first term, it felt like I had added actually hit on something that was interesting. For the materials I had printed on before, it was kind of like “cool there’s a photo on a rock” but there wasn’t a conversation happening. With the bubble wrap, it’s like adding a layer of meaning to the image.
I think it’s because it reminds me a lot of pixels, and I have always shot with a digital camera. I’ve never felt like I quite fit into the photography world. I’ve never romanticised film. I don’t love the dark room. I’ve never been drawn to developing my own work. I like to shoot digital. I like to shoot fast. I like to make a lot of work quickly in this excited frenzy sort of way which works best for me. So, with the bubble wrap, it enabled not only me to slow down but the viewer as well.
With social media and Instagram specifically, we are all aware of how inundated our lives are with imagery, being able to scroll through thousands of pictures at any given moment. I think my work allows the viewer to slow down and thing more hopefully about images in our world in general and what they mean.
With the bubble wrap there’s obviously this element of perspective as the viewer searches for that moment of clarity. Can you explain how this specific aspect of the art came to you?
Definitely! Linking back to my previous answer I think that’s exactly why the viewer is forced to slow down. If you’re not familiar with how UV printers work you, in conjunction with the machine, measure the highest point of the material and the ink is sprayed out at the height of the highest point throughout the entire print. With bubble wrap this creates such an interesting effect because the tops of the bubbles will get the most detail and the space between becomes so blurred and unintelligible. As a result, if you’re directly parallel with the image you can’t see the image at all – it’s almost just blobs of colour.
What did the ‘eureka’ moment feel like when you finally arrived at the bubble wrap?
Well, before working with bubble wrap, I really struggled with how to explain my practice because I’m very intuitive with my work. I don’t know, I just like making cool stuff! But with bubble wrap, it was the first moment where I was like “I’m interested in the medium itself” – it’s not just that I’m trying to convey a specific message or recount my personal experiences. I’m more interested in the medium itself, how we read art and how we have read it historically. And, as cheesy as it sounds, it’s helping me inlock some truth about myself in why I make art and why I like photography.
You touched on intuition which seems so instrumental in your practice. With that in mind, how do you choose the themes and the subjects you portray?
At the moment I’m really interested in portraits because it’s fascinating how easy it seems for humans to read the human form, even when the picture is really distorted. I think this works well because the pictures that I print on bubble wrap have to be somewhat simple due to the distortion that occurs.
But I think, rather than conveying a message specifically through the subject, I’m more interested in creating a mood with my artwork. It’s really heavily based on my intuition. I don’t know if this will fully make sense but you know that feeling when you’re at a party with all your friends and you get into this space where you can fully be yourself and be confident? The people I photograph are often just my friends and I feel like in the moment I take the photograph we’re all this real version of ourselves. Almost an alter-ego, if you will.
Can you give us a glimpse of anything you’re currently working on or what you’re looking forward to at this point in your career?
I’m still working a lot on the bubble wrap and trying to push that idea as far as I possibly can. I’m also making these pixelated photographs which continues this line of thinking with the digital image and how to reconstitute it. And, of course, I’m excited about my first international group show with Toxic Arts Gallery in London coming up. In the States I have some work in a gallery called ‘Women and Their Work’ in Austin, Texas.
You also make music too. Can you tell us about your journey into music and how you got started?
Music is so important to me and it’s really tied to my work and my photographs. I think I approach music in a similar way that I approach photography, since I’m really intuitive about it. I’ve never had any formal training but I really started playing in bands and making my own music in my 20s and developed from there. Although I haven’t made as much music as I would like lately, I’m starting to get back into it. In the last couple of years I’ve gotten more into the electronic music scene which has been such a cool experience and the community there is so welcoming. The way I feel at an electronic music show or at a rave is honestly what kind of mood I’m trying to bring to my bubble wrap photos.
You touched on it briefly there, but how does music influence your artwork?
Whilst I’m shooting specifically portraits, I always have music on and often talk with the model and just ask what music they are listening to – I think it’s a really fun way to make the shoot feel a little lighter and take the pressure off the subject. It also helps me honour my love for music even when I’m not making it right now.
You speak a lot about confidence and, using your analogy from before, that party-like confidence that makes you feel free. Do you think listening to music and going to raves provides you with the confidence to pursue your artwork?
Yeah, I mean honestly you put it perfectly, I don’t know if I can say it better. There’s something about both playing music and listening to music that really brings out this part of myself that otherwise would stay hidden. I’ve always been this self-conscious, introverted person and I’m able to access this part of myself that I really like.
Thank you for taking the time to share your story, Rosie.
Thank you for having me!