Artist Emma Talbot talks to Abigail Viner about her practice and ethos. They discuss the role that drawing plays in the development of Talbot’s ideas, the relationship between text and image in her work, and the emotive qualities of specific colours and materials. They also explore the distinct ecofeminist lens that shapes (and is shaped by) Talbot’s working methods, describing her work as a reflection on human interdependency with nature and an attempted act of resistance in an age of climate breakdown. Towards the end of the interview, Talbot touches on the notion of drawing as an immersive practice, suggesting that it offers a way to connect private emotional states to the collective happenings of the volatile world around us.

This conversation formed part of our Drawing Weekender, which took place over the 18th and 19th of July 2026 in collaboration with Hauser & Wirth at their Somerset gallery.

Emma Talbot

Emma Talbot (born 1969, Stourbridge) lives and works in London. She studied at the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design and Royal College of Art. Working in drawing, painting, animation and sculpture Talbot often articulates internal narratives as visual poems or associative ruminations, based on her own experience, memories and psychological projections. Incorporating her own writing and references to other literary and poetic sources, Talbot’s work considers complex issues such as feminist theory and storytelling; ecopolitics and the natural world; and pertinent questions regarding our shifting relationships to technology, language and communication.

Talbot has been awarded the 2020 8th Max Mara Art Prize for Women, 2018 Bryan Robertson Trust Award, 1998 City of Rochester Award, 1995-6 Rome Scholarship, British School at Rome.

Her work has been included in ‘Milk of Dreams’ at The 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2022). Recent solo exhibitions include: ‘A Journey You Take Alone’, Kunsthalle Giessen (2023-2024), ‘In The End The Beginning’, Kesselhaus Kindl, Berlin (2023); ‘The Human Experience’, Kunsthall Stavenger (2023); 21st Century Herbal, Beiqiu Museum, Nanjing, China (2023); ‘Spaceship Earth (Plant Your Seeds of Hope)’, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam (2023); ‘The Age/L’Età’, Collezione Maramotti, Italy and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2022); Mirrored Landscape, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam (2022); ‘Let Poets Speak’, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam (2022); Meditations, Petra Rink Galerie, ‘Düsseldorf’, Germany (2022); ‘When Screens Break’ Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2020); Ghost Calls, DCA, Dundee (2020); Ghost Calls and ‘Meditations’ Kunsthaus Pasquart, Biel (2021); ‘Sounders of The Depths’, GEM Kunstmuseum, The Hague, Netherlands (2019-20); ArtNight 2019 commission: ‘Your Own Authority’, William Morris Gallery; 21st Century Sleepwalk, Caustic Coastal and Salford Lad’s Club, Salford (2018); ‘Woman-Snake-Bird’, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam (2018); ‘Open Thoughts’, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (2017); ‘The World Blown Apart’, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam 2017; ‘Stained With Marks Of Love’, Arcadia Missa, New York (2017). In 2025, ‘How We Learn to Love’, Compton Verney, Warwickshire GB, ‘HUMAN/NATURE’, EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens GR and ‘Mother Earth’, Centraal Museum Utrecht, NL.

Her work is held in the collections of Guerlain, Paris, British Council Collection, Arts Council Collection, City of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, David Roberts Collection, Saatchi Collection, University of the Arts London, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Fries Museum NL, Arnhem Museum NL, KRC Collection NL, AkzoNobel NL, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk DK and Kunstmuseum Den Haag NL.

Abigail Viner

Abigail Viner is Director of Creative Programming and Engagement at Compton Verney, heading up Exhibitions, Collections, Learning and Engagement and Landscape.

She has held senior positions at University of the Arts London, London Borough of Culture 2019 and London Borough of Waltham Forest and is a curator, arts programmer and project manager with extensive experience of working within the visual arts and wider cultural sector.