Bettina Samson

Bettina Samson’s works are a prism through which histories – cultural, scientific, political and geographical – are mediated, diffracted and spliced. Samson’s research-based practice involves meticulous enquiries into overlooked legacies such as that of 20th Century French composer and ornithologist Olivier Messiaen, or Henri Becquerel’s accidental discovery of radioactivity. Through representing seemingly disparate nodes of history, Samson’s practice acts as a conduit to connect them, asking the viewer to question causality, predetermination and the nature of randomness. The strength of Samson’s practice lies in the outcomes of her research: complex mixed media sculptures rendered in materials such as glazed stoneware, terracotta and borosilicate glass. Samson intertwines these into braided, twisted forms. While they are outwardly hard and durable, the materials are simultaneously fragile and frangible. Written by Goldsmiths CCA