Emily Bates

Emily Bates was born in England in 1970.

She studied at Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, graduating in 1993, with a BA in textiles.

Bates became recognised for a body of work, or ‘impossible’ dresses, made during the 1990’s, that were constructed from knitted human hair, (such as Dress, Depilator and Sibilla). These works have been exhibited extensively in Europe as well as in the USA and Japan, including in Revelation at the Barbican Centre Curve Gallery, London and the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 1997; Addressing the Century: 100 Years of Art and Fashion at the Hayward Gallery, London and Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, 1998; Weaving the World at Yokohama Museum of Art, 1999; Out of the Closet and The Unexpected, at Sotheby’s Auctioneers in London (2000) and New York (2001) respectively; and Body Extensions at mudac – Musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains, Lausanne in 2004.

In 1997, she was awarded the prestigious Scottish Arts Council artists residency in Amsterdam, where photography became a large focus of her working practice, and where she remains based.

Emily Bates has received further artist residency and fellowship awards, notably from: the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney (2000); Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Sweden (2000); S-Air in Sapporo, Japan (2002-3); Lijiang Studio, China (2006 and 2007); and as the Dutch Affiliated Visual Arts Fellow at the American Academy in Rome / Royal Dutch Institute (KNIR) in 2008.

She has also exhibited at Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam; Flatland Gallery, Utrecht; Nottingham Castle Museum; Paisley Museum and Art Gallery; CCA – the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow; Stills, Edinburgh; MAC’s – Musée des arts contemporains, Grand Hornu,; FRAC – Fonds regional d’art contemporain, Poitou-Charentes; This Is Gallery, Sapporo; the American Academy, Rome; C-Space gallery, Beijing.

Her solo exhibition, love scenes, comprised of photographic prints and a video installation shot in China, was shown at Casino, Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg in 2008, with an accompanying publication.

Part of the on-going project, The Nurturing Island, was exhibited in the exhibition For the Birds, at SMART Project Space, Amsterdam. The exhibition subsequently toured to Site Gallery, Sheffield, and includes work by Haroon Mirza, Justin Bennett, Luke Fowler, Rory Pilgrim and Katarina Zdjelar.

Emily Bates is currently presenting a new body of work, The sky is glowing with the setting sun, at MUDAM, Luxembourg.