‘I build rooms 

Rooms with objects in 

Rooms with memories, sounds, smells, dust, soil, dirt

A broken glass, who broke it? 

A disheveled bed, who festered here? 

A bowl of soil, a burnt cloak, a plucked feather. 

Who lived here? 

I build characters, people that exist within me, they emerge through the objects, the rooms, the texture of the walls, the floor. They are, the plate that is cracked, they creak around using the walking stick that lies by the hat. The object, the space, and the environment build the characters. The characters are feelings; of sorrow, that yearning for home, of loneliness and desire. The characters are parts of me.’ 

The central theme within Edward Rollitt’s practice is the home. His work explores concepts and feelings of home as a place for intimacy; a place where we can exist and be comfortable, and as an environment that fuels our imagination. Rollitt builds rooms. Historically-inspired, full-scale interiors; scenes of the home, where his characters bathe, dine and have tea parties. Sourcing and making objects to furnish these scenes, he then photographs them, freezing the interior in a moment of time. Fictional characters inhabit these spaces, yet they are always physically absent. Who lived here? We feel them in the objects that make up the interiors. The smooth handle of a spoon used daily for years on end; the damask topped table that has been worn down by a heavy Georgian tumbler, its base making an impression into the surface. The humanity of objects is a principal interest to the artist and his work encourages us to examine our own relationships with the objects in our daily lives. How do objects become part of us? What past lives have they lived and what of us remains within them when we go?

Current

‘To Dwell in Dust’ Solo Show at New Art Projects London

Past

'RCA Graduate Show'  Truman Brewery, London (2023)  

'Penumbral Zone'  Gallery 46, London (2022) 

'Wild Stone'  Van Gogh House, London (2022)

'Oxford Brookes Graduate Show'  Oxford, (2019)

Competitions

Shortlisted for the Robert Walters, in collaboration with the Saatchi Gallery, UK new artist of the year.

Longlisted for the Aesthica Magazine Art Prize 2024