about

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

​

​

​

Marie-Thérèse Ross’s work explores her inner unconscious world, focusing on conflicting states of the physical body as well as emotional and psychological transformations. She seeks to both reveal and hide awkward personal experiences including childhood memories, episodes that reflect on her own sense of vulnerability and mortality. Her playful and spontaneous approach to the process of making gives her work a humorous and darkly subversive quality, confronting themes which include grief, mortality, and feminism, as well as the human condition.

 

​The human figure is central to Ross’s practice as corvid-like birds and anthropomorphic furniture are given physical human qualities and postures. Whereas Ross’s birds and creatures appear invasive, representing the disruption of the exterior world, the anthropomorphic furniture moves silently, reflecting the more vulnerable and fragile inner core. She creates immersive installations with sculptures of corvid birds and fragmented human figures which inhabit and animate furniture, some installations incorporating specially commissioned music.

Ross’s inspired combination of materials and sculptural process creates three-dimensional pieces which have a visceral and emotive quality. She carves and laminates upcycled wood parts, and incorporates discarded ‘found’ objects these are integrated and sublimated into the works and painted. Dowels and screws join and secure pieces together, often left exposed rather than smoothed away and hidden.

 

"Painted in black and eschewing naturalism and detailing, they are described by Ross not as sculptures of the birds, but sculptures of their shadows. Crafted in wood and recycled timber, they give weight and permanence to the fleeting nature of their subject." (Aliki Braine: Writing without words 2024)

 

Ross's interest in movement led her to explore the medium of short stop-action films. In 2025, she collaborated with fellow artist Marcia Teusink to create the film, Pangaea Dreaming, which was included in Sluice Seyðisfjörður Expo as an installation and then premiered at the Sluice Seyðisfjörður Film Festival in Iceland. Combining their artistic practices, they used paintings, drawings, found objects, and Ross's small-scale wood sculptures to demonstrate their love for the sensual and tactile qualities of the natural environment in an increasingly digital age.

 

​Ross found herself particularly inspired by the natural environment during a residency in 2023 on the isolated Scottish island Eilean Shona. A new challenge for the artist, she worked outdoors in the landscape making site-specific sculptures and wood-block prints, finding herself energised by the island’s natural features and materials. The experience has left a lasting impact on her practice.

 

Ross lives and works in London and is a member of The Royal Society of Sculptors. She is an Art Gemini Prize winner (2021). Her work has been exhibited in New York (USA), Philadelphia (USA), Karlsruhe (Germany), and in exhibition spaces across the UK including the London Art Fair, The Bomb Factory, Vivienne Roberts Projects, ArtHouse1, The Stone Space, APT Deptford, The Old Parcels Office Scarborough, Bankley Gallery Manchester, Royal Cambrian Academy, and the Elysium Gallery in Wales. 

 

Ross was awarded a First-Class BA hons in painting from Loughborough College of Art and Design. Following her BA, she studied sculpture for a year at Karlsruhe Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Germany with British sculptor, Michael Sandle RA. She studied sculpture for her MA at the University of Pennsylvania USA. 

​​

​

​