Amelia Cross

Painting (MA)
Photo of artist Amelia Cross in her RCA studio
Image of artwork "The Initiation" by Amelia Cross. Two pairs of legs in painted lace stockings and red Mary-Jane style shoes, mounted onto a white wall.
Image of artwork "The Initiation" by Amelia Cross. Two pairs of legs in painted lace stockings and red Mary-Jane style shoes, mounted onto a white wall.
The Initiation, 2025, Oil and cotton thread on linen, 63cm x 31cm x 2.5cm per pair
Image of artwork "Captain" by Amelia Cross. A canvas painted to resemble a striped button-up shirt, with a tailored collar cut-out and a pocket holding a pencil and glasses.
Image of artwork "Captain" by Amelia Cross. A canvas painted to resemble a striped button-up shirt, with a tailored collar cut-out and a pocket holding a pencil and glasses.
Captain, 2025, Oil and cotton thread on linen, 50cm x 60cm x 9.5cm
Image of artwork "The Truth-teller" by Amelia Cross. A linen canvas sculpted into a button-down shirt with a red ribbon bow and a pocket holding a small piece of lined paper with writing on, shown from a side angle.
Image of artwork "The Truth-teller" by Amelia Cross. A linen canvas sculpted into a button-down shirt with a red ribbon bow and a pocket holding a small piece of lined paper with writing on, shown from a side angle.
The Truth-teller, 2025, Oil, cotton thread, linen covered buttons and velvet ribbon on linen, 60cm x 38cm x 8.5cm
Image of artwork "The Corridor" by Amelia Cross. Three sculptural canvases resembling school uniforms with pleated skirts and ties, made from linen and mounted on a white wall.
Image of artwork "The Corridor" by Amelia Cross. Three sculptural canvases resembling school uniforms with pleated skirts and ties, made from linen and mounted on a white wall.
The Corridor, 2025, Oil, cotton thread and cotton poplin on linen, 78cm x 93cm x 10cm
Image of artwork "The Initiation" by Amelia Cross. Two pairs of legs in painted lace stockings and red Mary-Jane style shoes, mounted onto a white wall.
Image of artwork "Captain" by Amelia Cross. A canvas painted to resemble a striped button-up shirt, with a tailored collar cut-out and a pocket holding a pencil and glasses.
Image of artwork "The Truth-teller" by Amelia Cross. A linen canvas sculpted into a button-down shirt with a red ribbon bow and a pocket holding a small piece of lined paper with writing on, shown from a side angle.
Image of artwork "The Corridor" by Amelia Cross. Three sculptural canvases resembling school uniforms with pleated skirts and ties, made from linen and mounted on a white wall.

About

Amelia Cross (b. 1995) is a British artist, born and based in London. Following an early career in tailoring and womenswear design, her practice focuses on uncovering confessions through her primary mediums of painting, pattern-cutting, sewing and writing.

Guided by questions surrounding interiority, uniforms and rules – specifically self-imposed restrictions – Cross studies the unspoken systems of how we construct identity through garments. Her research investigates the clothed form by introducing the craft of pattern-cutting to the painted canvas, resulting in a new form of trompe l’œil defined as the ‘Sewn Painting’: 

sewn painting (n.) “that which surface is painted on and constructed by means of needle and thread”

These works occupy a space in-between the binary conditions of the painterly and the sculptural, playing with their boundaries to negotiate the destabilisation of restraint and impulse. Using a limited palette on exposed natural linen, she controls the representation of herself, yet also, strangely allows it to control her.

Cross examines sartorial rules: both self-inflicted and societal, removing traces of the figure to explore the psychology of garments and the choices we make every day by wearing them. These sewn paintings establish the significance of life’s uniforms, the clothes that give us a place from which to speak or hold authority, at the cost of having a bodily presence.

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Cross was the recipient of the Hesketh Hubbard Bursary 2024 and has exhibited work in multiple group shows in the UK. Her Master’s degree was supported by The RCA President and Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship. 

 

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