Through sculpture, multimedia and printmaking, Aches & Pains investigates how the human body acts as a vessel through which to navigate and confront patriarchy. The exhibition poses questions about the physical and psychological contortions involved in responding to and resisting societal forces in our daily lives. The artwork examines how bodies and relationships become sites where the intimate and political intersect. Observant of intergenerational experience, Nicky considers how our individual and collective perspectives have the power to interrogate and disrupt established patterns within society. This body of work was informed by a research and development residency at Birnam Arts undertaken in the summer of 2024.
Nicky May Bolland is an inter-disciplinary artist based in Perthshire, with an established visual arts practice combining clay and print-making techniques in novel ways. Nicky's work is concerned with relationships and entanglements: interspecies, inter-generational, inter-cultural. She is curious about how we relate to our worlds and each other. How can our interactions disrupt the stories we tell? What can different ways of being tell us about the intimate and political ecosystems we inhabit?