Collage & Mixed Media

Tulyn's Ghost V (After Fog)

2025

Original: Collage on Stonehenge paper (steel grey, smooth/vellum)

Limited Edition pigment print available - 7 +1 AP on Hahnemühle Fine Art Museum Etching paper

Original collage POA

Made from the 'Fog' collage remaining pieces, this one was slower to come together. However, when it did I realised that each small assemblage worked in its own right & didn't need to join together. 

I was excited to start this one and really enjoyed the process. Working for hours moving pieces, finding pieces & connecting pieces really became a ritual. I wouldn't say I was in a trans-like state but I definitely drifted into another world - losing hours at a time. Much like when I was young & exploring tiny things in a big world when my world was much smaller. This process takes me back there. 

Tulyn's Ghost IV (After Fog)

2025

Original: Collage on Stonehenge paper (steel grey, smooth/vellum)

Limited Edition pigment print available - 7 +1 AP on Hahnemühle Fine Art Museum Etching paper

Original collage POA

Made from the 'Fog' collage remaining pieces, this one was slower to come together. However, when it did I realised that each small assemblage worked in its own right & didn't need to join together. 

I was excited to start this one and really enjoyed the process. Working for hours moving pieces, finding pieces & connecting pieces really became a ritual. I wouldn't say I was in a trans-like state but I definitely drifted into another world - losing hours at a time. Much like when I was young & exploring tiny things in a big world when my world was much smaller. This process takes me back there. 

Fog

2025

Original: Collage on Awagami Washi paper

Limited Edition pigment print available - 7 +1 AP on Hahnemühle Fine Art Museum Etching paper

Original collage POA

The first piece of 2025. Fog is about brain pathways & the literal blocking of vision & the blocking of memories that the mind is capable of in order to protect us from harm or trauma.

I've always had an 'unusual' way of thinking about things & solving problems. Here I am unpicking and restitching elements of events & incidents together again or reflecting on them years later. Sometimes we open up to things or things reveal themselves later or they get dislodged or triggered by something else.

Tulyn’s Ghost III

2025

Original: Collage on Stonehenge paper (smooth/vellum)

Limited Edition pigment print available - 7 +1 AP on Hahnemühle Fine Art Museum Etching paper

Original collage POA

The third & final collage made from the pieces left from 'MYBP' & 'Swing State'. It was made, again on a smaller scale, becoming more compact & angular. 

The paper again with a darker ground felt right. Somehow starting with a colour ground is less intimidating than a white sheet of paper.  It's somehow easier to start & the flow comes quicker. 

The pieces start close together at the bottom & then begin to lift & dissipate opening up to the cloud-like shapes. The lighter central column keeps it all open I hope...it's almost a portrait. There are very tiny pieces here too which hold it all together, the finest thread can have the greatest strength.

Tulyn is a shape - the 'T' & 'y' shapes especially shape the word. I have several books with my name crossed out inside. My name is written by my mother who has a unique way of writing the 'y'. When I look at this sideways, I see my name...

Also, upside down it looks like a wolf's profile or chess piece to me. The child never leaves you...Tulyn never left me.

Tulyn’s Ghost II

2025

Original: Collage on Stonehenge paper (smooth/vellum)

Limited Edition pigment print available - 7 +1 AP on Hahnemühle Fine Art Museum Etching paper

Original collage POA

For a long time I've wanted to make work as Tulyn. Aged 7, I decided to become an artist - partly due to a magical day with my auntie picking up her portfolio from college. Enchanted by the sights & smells of the room with big drawers brimming with magic she gave me my first art book, on Rembrandt. She understood my obsessive need to create.

That little girl is still there inside me, wondering who she might have become had a life not changed so dramatically all those years ago. I am certain she would also be an artist. 

Whilst making Swing State' & 'MYBP' (see below) I set aside small unused/leftover pieces as I went, either placed on a notebook or a piece of card. I took several photos of these arrangements because they were pleasing somehow...

Then it dawned on me the minute MYBP was finished. 

I'd grown quite attached to these little pieces, really enjoying the shapes & colours. In a very intuitive instinctual way I had arranged them & let them be what they were. Somehow throughout the making of this work I had started another piece. It made perfect sense. These pieces were the ghosts left behind by the other work, by Laura. Like a ghost print to clean an etching plate - when you run it through the press to remove the last traces of ink - the 'ghost' of the image is left. 

Somehow, Tulyn - who is my ghost - made one of her own with Laura's fragments. So I began the process of making the first one. A darker background felt right, white was too stark for this. It happened quickly & just flowed out. In complete contrast to the meticulous rendering of the crushed still life - the whole composition opened up. Tulyn finally has a voice & my secret is out. I can explore this out in the open, finally.

Tulyn’s Ghost

2024

Original: Collage on Stonehenge paper (Steel grey, smooth/vellum)

Limited Edition pigment print available - 7 +1 AP on Hahnemühle Fine Art Museum Etching paper

Original collage POA

This work needs a detailed explanation from me to understand the process & context:

“This is a dialogue I began a long time ago in my head. It has taken decades to come about in this form. And it's a lot to process...

So where to begin?
Hmmmm
For those of you who know me well, the core of this is not news to you. For those who don't, here goes....(deep inhale)

You know me as Laura.
I'm still Laura....sort of...
I wasn't named Laura at the beginning...I had to become her when I was almost 8 years old.

Without going into too much detail, my early years were spent as Tulyn Semma (surname will remain secret). A rocky start with a home life which sadly was not safe. My mother made the brave & scary decision to leave with me & my younger brother. It was not the first time she had tried, but this time it stuck.

By the time I was 7 nearly 8 my mum had remarried & to keep us safe & hidden, names were changed. We moved to another part of Manchester & Tulyn was left behind...almost.

I had to change my surname again when I was at uni. In 2020 another attempt was made by my bio father to connect. This time I was all grown up, ready to decline contact on my own terms.

During the pandemic making art (as always) was my haven. I addressed some of my childhood trauma through my project 'Anamnesis Unbroken (Au)'. Those of you who were kind enough to visit the exhibition in 2023 will find this post is less of a surprise as it concerned many things about my past identity.

So I begin this series with an explanation as I conduct a dialogue with my former self through the work 'Laura' makes, I become Tulyn again...

Hope this makes some sort of sense.”

Swing State

2024

Original: Collage on Awagami Washi paper

Limited Edition pigment print available - 7 +1 AP on Hahnemühle Fine Art Museum Etching paper

Original collage POA

Swing State is about the pivotal moment between a life changing for the better or the worse which on several occasions, two especially were connected with events and memories of the artist’s nursery school.

The place was run down and was constantly being vandalised - with climbing frames kids couldn't climb, a sand pit with no sand and swings without chains, the seats broken off by vandals. The title refers to the artist’s life/oscillations both on & off the broken swings. Life changed forever for the artist when collected from nursery to be taken to a new future far away. Now rendered in hopeful colours, the joys of childhood are focused upon in this transfigurtion.

MYBP

2024

Original: Collage on Awagami Washi paper

Limited Edition pigment print available - 7 +1 AP on Hahnemühle Fine Art Museum Etching paper

Original collage POA

MYBP is about money, wanting it, needing it & the difference it makes when you do or don't have it. The title is taken from a line in the Money Money song in Cabaret, "a Mark, a Yen, a Buck or a Pound." (MYBP)

This work is green to honour those who died, those who survived & those who are affected by the preventable tragedy at Grenfell Tower.
I wanted to key it to green not just to reference the notion of green in relation to money but especially to the green heart symbol of Grenfell - which keep it present.

Situationist

2023

Collage on paper

Edition of 5 digital prints & 1 Unique AP

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken

Drawn from personal routes made by the artist as hand drawn maps for safe routes within the city. The psychogeographic paths take new forms as the crushed map is re-interpreted in collage form.

Hasp

2023

Collage on paper

Edition of 5 digital prints & 1 Unique AP

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken

Broken locks, sawn metal & remnants of brute force are transformed into a blue oasis through collage.

T&Z

2023

Collage on paper

Print Edition of 5 digital prints & 2AP’s

*2 versions, square & free edges.

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken

T&Z explores her relationship when her brother was very young, back to a time he doesn't remember

The title links to past identities. They are purposely vague, the full names known only to close friends & family.

In this work the siblings are outside their first home.

Adrift

2022

Collage on paper

Print Edition of 5 digital prints & 2AP’s

*2 versions, square & free edges.

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken

Adrift depicts a sense of loss untethered from her origins, a sense of space is compressed in the creases & torn edges. This contrast depicts the need to belong when foundations are unstable.

Living Room 1

2022

Collage on paper

Print Edition of 5 digital prints & 2AP’s

*2 versions, square & free edges.

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken

Living Room is a cacophony of paper from a complex drawing of a 1970’s carpet which she sat on to draw at her grandparents. This was a time of great upheaval which vibrates in the chaotic details amidst Mid-Century Modern furniture.

Two other renderings of this are featured in the Summary of Practice page.

This is where I go

2022

Collage on paper

Edition of 5 + 2AP’s

This is a place of solace, a safe place steeped in history. The imposing architecture looms as the doors to the cabinet of curiosities open revealing untold wonders. This work explores perception & perspective combined with the magical world of musicals that as a literal & metaphorical place to escape to. Scale & intimacy expand & contract as different eras of history, both ancient & modern converge.

The Practical Wisdom of Murder

2022

Collage on paper

Edition of 5 + 2AP’s

Setting the scene for a murder, a crow awaits the arrival of the main protagonists in a fictional tale that might begin ‘Little did they know upon entering the castle…’

The goats atop the bannisters represent practical wisdom - something essential for crime solving. Presenting a possible motive for the impending crime, jewels are poised for the plucking…the scene is set.

*The collage is on cream vellum paper so when printed can be mounted easily with a passepartout.

Pointed Reflection I

2022

Collage on paper

Edition of 5 + 2AP’s

Surrealist pondering…

*The collage is on cream vellum paper so when printed can be mounted easily with a passepartout.

A Few of My Favourite Things

2021

Collage on paper unique AP

Digital prints Edition of 5 + 2AP’s

This miniature library dangles from an elegant wrist, as old Hollywood meets alchemy to reveal reoccurring elements in this surreal collage.

*The collage is on cream vellum paper so when printed can be mounted easily with a passepartout.

Many Hands…

2021

Edition of 5 digital prints & 1 Unique AP (Collage on paper)

Series: Philosophical Fielding of Feminism

The ancient proverb ‘Many hands make light work’ was known to both the Romans & the Greeks. It appeared in English in English in Proverbs by John Heywood in 1546 & has remained popular phrase ever since. This collage shows the gestures of many hands, opening, holding, helping & comforting. A sense of history, warmth & female support is presented here.

Liberty Uncapped

2021

Edition of 5 digital prints & 1 Unique AP (Collage on paper)

Series: Philosophical Fielding of Feminism

Quite a surreal scene, with reference to feminist reclaiming of the female role & the mouth...so favoured by the likes of Dalí & the replacement of the red lipstick to attract men in favour of a camp dusting off of old norms. A male arm is inserted, from a statue by Rodin, another male artist so celebrated in a lipstick which cam be wound back into its case. Female surrealists are only just being recognised, let's hope for more of that! The patina of the painted brick also has its own beauty which instead of 'fading' (as it's so often referenced) has a glorious technicolour all of its own.

The aperture & curtains are both literally & metaphysically open - liberated & free. Sometimes just making it makes freedom seem closer. A little nod to experimental ideas & the opening of the mind with open buds (another mouth reference) via the fungi & the doors of perception...

In Praise of the Perspective Hinge

2020

Edition of 5 digital prints & 1 Unique AP (Collage on paper)

Series: Philosophical Fielding of Feminism

There are many hands here, playing with perspective - making light work of the weight & shadows cast by buildings & interiors which are a nod to the classic book 'In Praise of Shadows' by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. This internal/external monologue is the hinge in which the space resides.

I Weigh

2020

Edition of 5 digital prints & 1 Unique AP (Collage on paper)

Series: Philosophical Fielding of Feminism

This collage is a reaction to the way in which women feel weighed down by the pressure to look, be & achieve without making waves, noise or having power. This collage shows strength in deed & word, the power we weild through art & action. The diamonds represent the pressure needed to create beauty & the irony of it.

Dedicated to Jameela Jamil whose organisation I Weigh the title acknowledges. It aims to eradicate the body shaming so prevent in society & media, to question, fight & share the love.

An Aperture to Outrageous Fortune

2020

Edition of 5 digital prints & 1 Unique AP (Collage on paper)

Series: Philosophical Fielding of Feminism

This collage really pulls in deep inner thoughts about the past, memory, expectations & success despite previous hurdles. Things hide, emerge & suggest. Mysticism, palm reading elements show our appetite & want for a happy future, yet knowing our own future comes with its own limitations. We cannot prepare for what we don't know is there. Moving forward can mean looking back & letting go. Aspiration, in this case art - both the creation & consumption of it feeds the mind & soul. The window both recieves & exposes. Dreams of dancing - yet the shoes hurt. Our origins come into question as primal urges merge with contemporary expectations. A little bit of luxury & the need to connect seems at odds, yet both are essential.

Katrina

2020

Collage on paper

This was made to depict a very dear friend. Her support for the artist inspired the creation for her birthday on an explosive day, November 5th. Her love of her green things combined with a delicate frame concealing a strong will & strident fierce personality is at the core of this collage.

Embrace the Chaos

2020

Collage & watercolour on watercolour paper

Amidst the chaos, two very different birds coexist. One is a small garden bird, the other a bird of prey. Placed within the warm & cool tones of swirling animated brushstrokes which surround them, this work pivots between the real & imagined.

“I've always said I prefer to live in chaos & escape to quiet. By making work I can always find a quiet place both literally & emotionally.

Living in chaos brings inspiration at every turn. We can always fly away in our minds & imagination if we want to....” Laura Noble

From the Chaos

2020

Collage, ink & watercolour on watercolour paper

From the vibrant stormy brushstrokes a bird in flight, wings outstretched emerges. An intuitive work balances the chaos with an escape to the calm outer edges of the paper.

For a Friend

2020

Collage, ink & watercolour on watercolour paper

A secret message transpires via the mail. In linking friendship through the merging of each medium, the elements intertwine to show the strong bonds of a long term friendship.

Patina

2020

Collage, ink, masking tape & watercolour on watercolour paper

The patina of old shutters rubbing alongside the new refer to a house
the family always drove past. This big house on a hill with open green shutters symbolised privacy & safety to me. As I got older & visited various places overseas I saw how common shutters were. The green ones I'd seen as a child were not functioning. The ones in this collage are beautifully weathered by the elements. What lies behind them must be something good. Light following darkness & vice versa....

Ceramics symbolise these trips & the pottery which was brought home. The creativity found behind thick cool walls just reinforced the magic of the magic of the green shuttered house.

Underwater Vertigo

2020

Collage, ink, graphite, coloured pencil & watercolour on watercolour paper

A surreal freeing image about both being underwater & being on a swing. Made whilst pining for a childhood freedoms & a swim in the sea, the child revels in the swathes of colour which surrounds them.

Bubbles float upwards as the child swings upwards to the assumed sky above the water.

Spring

2020

Collage & watercolour on watercolour paper

The emergence of spring, made for a friend during a difficult time to lift the spirits & think of the transformative powers of nature.

Mary minus Fabric

2019

Collage on paper

Related to traditional depictions of Mary this collage is a feminist look at patriarchal assumptions of women as delicate creatures. In this case the flowers hold the form, something delicate yet standing independently.

Piano Pivot - Quiet Noise

2018

Collage on paper

A small, quiet moment perched between sound & silence with a gaze cast downward.

Hold On

1998

Collage on paper with cotton overlock

Capturing the feeling of falling when low with the potential for flight, this image combines the interlocking of the elements & our environment with a phenomenological approach.

My Fair Lady

2019

Mixed media collage on conservation board

My Fair Lady explores the injustice of the female experience through the romantic myths of storytelling & the media. It references the film & the play 'Pygmalion' by George Bernard Shaw, which plays upon the assumption that a woman cannot be happy without good breeding or being with a man.

Ballet Queen

2018

Collage on conservation board

A whimsical reflection of a night at the ballet with memories entwined in postcard form.

Don’t sssshh me!

2018

Collage on conservation board

This is about communication & a protest opposing the way that women are told to be quiet & conform. The double standard & belief that when men are speaking they are seen as assertive, yet women doing the same are ‘aggressive’.

Lire Love

2018

Collage on conservation board

The text is both visible & hidden like a letter viewed from the front & the back. The appearance of holding a letter up to the light combined with zig zags lie somewhere between water & postal franking.

Frida

Ink release, ink, chalk, pastel, pencil on paper.

An ode to Frida Kahlo. Multi layered.

An ode to Frida. A multi layered work using ink release in black followed by layers of ink, chalk pastel & pencil on paper to merge several versions of the artist linked with words & veins of blood piercing & enveloping her. She fades, yet the colour still comes through.

Peruvian Patina

1997

Collage on paper

Exploring the possibilities of a place that was never reached. This is one of three collages looking at Mayan symbolism & the rejection of patina by the West in favour of the new.

Mask of Feathers

1997

Collage on paper

Mask of Feathers explores the duality of a mask which gives both anonymity to the wearer & with it a freedom, represented by the use of feathers as a symbol. The lush shiny dark abundance contrasts with colourful bird-like features in striking bright colours.

The Holding Door

1997

Collage on paper

Poised in a surreal space a hand holds a red door open or is it closed? A door to a place we can only imagine.

Joy

2019

Collage on paper

Ballet is a recurring theme, the joy of dance, the music, magical sense of it is a rich tapestry to draw inspiration from. Capturing the joy of the dancer & viewer is the aim.

Calla Perch

2008

Collage on paper

Calla Perch is one of two works made for the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts, London) 'Leisure Centre' zine, guest edited by the artist Neeta Madahar.

A bather basks in the warmth of the petals in this surreal scene.

Home is Where the Rhubarb is. (V2)

2008

Collage on paper

Home is Where the Rhubarb is one of two works made for the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts, London) 'Leisure Centre' zine, guest edited by the artist Neeta Madahar.

Eye Spy

2008

Collage on paper

Observation of past & present. She surveys from a distance.

Postcard to Amy

1994

Mixed media, ink, wax & beads on conservation board

This is a postcard to a friend who passed just before Laura left the UK who died aged only 19. It was made as a way to keep in touch although she was far away. She died of AIDS like so many back then. That night she was due to go to an AIDS benefit in Manchester. Prior to that she was out for a farewell meal with family & friends (before moving to Australia the following week ). “ When I felt something go, I knew it was her. I called from pay phone in the restaurant, her mum answered in floods of tears. She told me to go to the benefit for her & for them, which I did with a good friend who was with me. At the benefit so many comforted each for their losses & others, I was with my extended family, some still with us, many not. This piece doesn't look sad, it isn't - it's a beautiful thing, which floats somehow just like she did on the many nights we twinkled together on the dancefloor.”

Irons in the fire

2001

Collage on paper with ink release & photocopies

Series: Who Do You Trust?

This trio of irons groups together the daunting nature of scoring points in the field of work & life's responsibilities. Using a mixed media to show different elements of class & luxury from the newsprint to photocopies & magazines.

Combining domestic labour with the printed page this little series is a reflection upon the future & the clear division of class.

Each work is small, designed to be engaged with closely, held in the hand or placed in a wallet.

Blue collar crease

2001

Collage on paper with ink release

Series: Who Do You Trust?

This is a very small collage on paper on top of an ink release of text. The text in this is for a job in the book trade - the most middle class of jobs. The iron ironically references the ironing of a newspaper - a task for a butler traditionally. When a woman is portrayed ironing, she is usually a housewife or a servant, both classes are lower, yet the male has a higher status in the pecking order. A butler has some autonomy & power over those below him.

This is about the unspoken rules of play in society & the workplace, often sexist & biased to those with a middle & upper class background, white & male. The title refers to blue collar work, male gender bias & the trappings of cricket - a sport which of course is popular with the middle classes. The crease is a certain area demarcated by white lines painted or chalked on the field of play & pursuant to the rules of cricket. They define the area within which the batsmen and bowlers operate. This image points to this rigid system, reading between the lines set to keep us in our place.

Psychic Wages

2001

Collage on paper with ink release

Series: Who Do You Trust?

The yellow iron - a colour representing fear - dances across an article about a publishing house offering a copy editor job with 'psychic wages'.

This series of irons reflect the repetitive nature of both the jobs of printing & ironing - as an endless cycle of creases and folds inking up & filling the blank page, smoothing out the traces of use to be used again.

Too Hot to Handle

2001

Collage on paper with ink release

Series: Who Do You Trust?

The printed word retreats from the red iron, to symbolise anger & rebellion from one class towards another.

City Life

1991

Collage on wood

This collage on wood about Manchester and with a reoccurring symbol of four (sometimes bars often a gate) with one broken piece, referring to an event experienced many years before. The mixture of flesh & architecture merge, revelling in the electric atmosphere the music scene in ‘Manchester’ - & the Mancunian publication which was akin to TimeOut - at the time.