Anna Bower’s art is rooted in the organic processes of dissolution, decay and decomposition. Using recycled paper as a medium, she reimagines, recomposes and reconstructs insect-eaten leaves, bark fragments, worm-bored timber, abandoned wasps’ nests and other natural phenomena. Her ways of making have evolved over many years as she manipulates, hollows out, carves, and sculpts her paper-based artefacts – her Intricate [Re]Constructions.    

Anna’s studio is filled with found objects that inspire her work, many of which she gathers on walks around her home. She explains, “My practice begins with immersion in the natural world, particularly woodland. While out walking, I pause frequently. I can spend hours scouring the forest floor for pieces of rotting wood, decaying leaves or anything else that catches my eye. Being surrounded by these materials fires my imagination and drives my creative process.”

Paper is Anna’s chosen material, “It is a medium that fascinates me. I love the way paper can be layered, ripped, moulded, carved...there are endless possibilities.” She adds, “I am particular about the paper that I choose to recycle; I select used newspapers and discarded magazines that respond best to my methods of working and the effects I am seeking.”

Anna’s work is process driven. Although natural forms or objects inform most of her works, the way each piece develops is dictated by the impact of a series interventions; each of which reveals and exposes contrasting effects and intriguing patterns. Sometimes a fragment of text emerges, at other times different colour combinations surface…nothing is predictable. At times, she combines pieces and adds new layers. At other times, she adds colour using natural dyes and pigments. She emphasises, “I don’t have a specific end in view for most of my pieces, they evolve as I work on them, but I always search for a point of equilibrium.”

The distinctive techniques that Anna uses have been refined over many years, through a process of ongoing experimentation and of trial and error. And in everything she does, she is conscious of the need to minimise her impact on the planet, “It pleases me that by using recycled paper I am extending its life cycle – from raw timber to viscous wood-pulp to pristine sheets, which when discarded, I transform into my artworks.”

Anna graduated from the Birmingham School of Art in 2004. She spent several years working in fashion and bringing up a young family in South London before her recent move to Sussex, where her garden studio overlooks the South Downs. Since her move she has been able to focus more fully on her artwork. Anna has always sold her work privately in the UK and internationally, but she has only recently begun to exhibit her work, following her success in the TOAST Elemental Compositions competition in 2022, in which her sculptural piece, ‘Balancing Rocks’, was awarded first prize. At the end of the same year, she participated in a group exhibition, ‘Synergy’, at Platform 1 Gallery in South London. Her exhibition at Meiklejohn Gallery is her first solo show.