Interview with Bryana Burke

Conducted on 6 May 2022

The artist talks about the importance of family, inequality within the art market, the significance of textiles in her paintings, and her current passion for sewing.

by Joshua Y'Barbo
Oct 2022

Bryana Burke, 60 years (2021), Mixed Media Textiles and Paint

BA (Hons) Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art (2021)

On May 6th, 2022, I spoke with Bryana Burke about her work and the important influence her family plays and the significance of textiles in her paintings. We also discussed inequality within the art market, problem-solving adviceand her current passion for sewing.

Joshua Y’Barbo (JY)

how have you been?

Byrana Burke (BB)

Do you know what? This side of this year I've been a lot better than I was. I don't know if you remember. I explained before, I had a lot of family issues, so unfortunately, my dad passed away whilst I was completing the course.

My deepest condolences, I'm sorry about that.

Thank you. It's just one of those things. He was really unwell three years ago time he had a stroke. So just trying to juggle dealing with that and study and seeing him, it was quite full on.

I can understand I lost my father halfway through my PhD. I can understand that devastation. My heart really goes out to you. I don't want you to talk about anything that you don't want to, so anything that you want me to remove after chatting personally, please let me know. That's totally fine. Well, I'm really sorry to hear about that. A lot of maybe the questions that I have thought about are in the context of the work that you made (and make) about your experience with diaspora experiences, finding the connections to your roots and in distinction to the broader BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement. With that being said, you were talking about your experiences this time last year.

So even if we're going to talk about Black Lives Matter (BLM), it was quite full on. I mean, I think it might have been positive for some people, but I think on a grand scale, I think it was quite destructive. Things that happened and being the person that I am, I'm always against violence and seeing statues being destroyed the way that they were. It was quite shocking. And I know it was because a lot of people were angry that certain things hadn't been done. People are in financial difficulties, losing their jobs left, right and centre. There was just so much unrest at the time with COVID and I think, unfortunately, a lot of black houses, people of colour, they suffered a lot because I suppose they were probably the front-line staff members, working in health care.

Inequalities within the labour market and within society for those of Black, Asian, and other minority ethnicities, absolutely 100%.

I think a lot of people can agree that what had happened probably wasn't handled very well. And as a consequence, things cropped up and are still cropping up now and highlighting the divide in terms of finances. And now with inflation, it's just getting even bigger again. But I think one of the things that was key for me during that time was family. The ones that were here, we were really supportive of each other, and we tried to do as much as we could to keep in contact, to maintain our health and safety and overall wellbeing.

Were you able to bubble with some of your family?

Yeah. I mean, my grandparents are showing signs now of anxiety and stuff like that because they've not really left the house for a considerable amount of time.

The ones in your painting (60 years), right?

Yes, they are, yeah. And I would say that although they're my grandparents, they're more like my parents because I'm really, really close to them. I speak to them at least three times a week. Even yesterday my nana called in, she was just asking about some products that I bought for her hair and there's a little bit of cheeky banter between us, so yes, we're very close.

Then, of course, you’re all very close and your relationship with them ties into your painting, 60 Years (2021). As an artist, could you tell me a little bit about how the relationship with your family that you just described, the diaspora experience that you mentioned, and your painting fit together?

So, with my grandparents, they're from Jamaica and they moved here in the 60s. It started out with just my grandfather and his brothers. My grandmother, being pregnant at the time, was unable to come over, but on a promise, my grandfather said that he would send for her, and he did. And they've been together since my grandmother was 16, and they're in their eighties now. So there's been a lot of growth between them as a couple and just the resilience they showed of being in a new country and surviving basically two life sentences ( the marriage) .

And just how long were they apart?

Well, actually, it was just a year, I must admit. My grandfather, he's a very determined person and once he sets his mind to something, that's it. They focused on getting the family here in a house for stability consequently, they had to leave their first two daughters in Jamaica until they were around ten and where they learned subsequently my grandparents had more children.

Wow. These are stories you don't really get to hear very often. I imagine there are a number of those kind of sacrifices that had to be made. It's amazing. And you as a painter, then you tell me about the making of your work, the kind of technical aspects and what the kind of process of painting means to you, and kind of capturing these relationships in pictorial form.

So, as part of my work, it's actually textiles based, I use materials from old clothes that I've been keeping or swatches, because I like the idea of repurposing things. this is something that my grandmother discussed during one of our interviews, actually. When they were young they couldn’t afford the fabric for dresses, they would get swatches of whatever was available and then they pieced them together. So, a dress would then be called ‘The Three Sisters’ because it was three pieces of fabric, which created this new piece. So that was more or less the inspiration, just repurposing, because we know now the environment is a very big topic moment and it's just a great way to sort of tell a story, especially with items of clothing that I may have worn whilst being with them.

I did some dissertation tutorials at Wimbledon in the theatre on the custom design course. And one of the students did her dissertation about a particular dress from a local community where she was from. Somewhere in Northwestern Europe. I can't remember exactly. But it was very specific and was in gotten a local museum involved to talk about how the social significance of the making of this dress and things like that. And that was in her dissertation. So, I can understand there is a context around something like clothing, that tells stories and represents narratives like that. That's really quite seeped in identity and culture on a local level, on an impersonal level, similar to the family that you're talking about. I don't know if you've been asked this a lot or not enough, but I'm wondering about how studying and finishing your degree during the pandemic was for you and what kind of impact did it have on your studies for your work or influence?

There was pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and #me too. That’s a lot going on when people quarantining glued to a constant stream of input from any device were forced to stop and look at things more closely, I suppose. Do you want to say anything about studying during the pandemic and what it was like and how it impacted your work?

Honestly? Yeah. I mean, it was very, very difficult for me. A lot of my work is about mingling with people, getting to know family members better, just understanding more of my culture. I think a lot of our culture is social based. Food is always celebrated within the home and it's a way that we bond with each other. We cook different dishes and serve them up and have barbecues and share stories.

So, it was devastating. I'm not going to lie. All my research material is about going to markets and Dalston market a predominantly black environment, you know, you tend to have a lot of African and West Indian cultures there and you just weren't able to do that. So, I missed out on a lot of opportunities to be able to complete my work and there was a point where I actually said to my tutors, I think I might need to take some time away. They were concerned but really supportive and just said they're confident that I will be able to make it through and get a decent grade and just do as much as I could. I think with everything else that was happening in the background with dad, I think they just wanted to make sure I had focus.

Yeah, it's interesting having gone through something similar when I was doing PhD work at Chelsea, UAL. I was based at Chelsea for many years and have gone through that very personal loss and bereavement and it affects everybody differently. But it's lively, intense and life changing. So, it makes me wonder about what harm the idea of taking a year out. It's like that and taking a break, actually. There's so much kind of process that it could go either way. You obviously pushed through and completed your work. So, are you still making work post graduations?

Well, I've taken a break away from painting. Yeah, with my dad, he was quite a creative person himself. And I think him not being here, it's almost like I've sort of lost a piece of me.

I'm just taking things a bit easy. But I am still creating and I'm learning how to sew actual clothes. So, I'm actually making a jacket at the moment, which I hope to wear to a birthday party for one of my uncles. He's going to be 65. It's one of those birthday themed parties. It's Gatsby. The jacket that I'm making is very tailored ruched shouldered, and lots of fine details. So, it's very fitting for the theme.

Amazing. That's great. My partner, that's her relaxing thing that she does away from the family, us and our daughter. On a Monday night, she goes to a sewing class club thing in a community centre nearby. She's made amazing stuff. She's made a lot of leggings for my daughter out of this really great material, you know? It's the pieces of material that, were cast offs from stuff she had made her sell to make blouses and a poncho and fun stuff like that. So, yeah, it's really cute. Especially when they're wearing matching clothes.

Yes.

But anyway, brilliant. Awesome. So, you're getting into selling as a kind of creative activity. Brilliant. And you're talking about textile based anyway, so it's just kind of like, how do we fit these things in? And is painting something I want to spend time doing? But I'm glad to hear that. Obviously, there's still an engagement in kind of making, but also the themes of your work are continuing onward naturally as they are being published, based on your family and those kinds of things. So, based on your experiences, do you have any problem-solving advice for any painters or seamstresses or anybody that may be doing some research on the themes that you've discussed about diaspora experience or your individual relationship? Any problem-solving, advice for anyone out there?

Talk to as many people as you can. That's definitely a big thing. Everyone's experience has been completely different and that's definitely something that I discovered even just talking about the experiences of my grandparents. Our family is very multicultural now, and I know that a lot of families tend to stick to their own sort of racial groups. And I think that in itself does make a difference maybe to my outlook on a lot of the difficulties faced by the black community, it’s conflicting. Within my family, there's different experiences, even as individuals. So just talking to as many people as you can, networking and just having belief in yourself that you can make it, yeah.

It's the simplest and the hardest to come by is to keep that self-esteem. One bad tutorial and you're ready to give up. Forget it, never doing this again. Retrospectively, looking back at it, the amount of times that I was in kind of a bad tutorial and really took it to heart, I can kind of go back and think, well, of course they're going to say that actually I just don't agree with what they said and that's fine. Or I do agree, and I might be able to do something about that and fix it. You know what I mean? Because so much of it. Yeah, I remember my tutorials being so subjective. You could show the same kind of piece of work to one tutor and get one kind of thing. And I was coming up with difficult because it's great that these kind of I guess what is it? It's almost like a kind of cultural criticism. So, when you're showing a piece of artwork and you criticise it, that's kind of cultural criticism. Right. So, we all have to have some sort of shared understanding what that actually means to then be able to do it together.And because it is so subjective, there tends to be just that variance. I've always found that fascinating.

But, just to say, I think maybe that's what helped me get through the pandemic. We had only one tutor the continuity was good and it was basically just what that one person thought about my work, which was really beneficial. So, I personally thought, like, I had more control over how my work was going to develop.

Great. Yeah. Because I guess then you don't have that contradictions between feedback and stuff. A lot of for me, as somebody who still I'm not teaching at the moment, but I was teaching off of the pandemic, I'm actually found doing things like this way easier because a lot of my time and students time would be tracking it down to college just to meet in a room. Cool. Great. Especially at Wimbledon. Wimbledon was lovely. I loved the course, and I loved working with the acting students and the theatre students and all that, after doing years of fine art and design. But you spend an hour and 20 minutes getting down there and the students are doing the same. So anyway, and plus, like, now I'm recording this. You'll have a copy? I'll have a copy. If you wanted to go back and look at it, you couldn't. So that works the same in tutorials and things like that.

Yeah.

And then also the tutor tells you something and you do it and then they tell you something else. You told me to do it. Here's the evidence (said to the tutors). On that note, is there any kind of immediate concerns or interests that you have either personally or professionally. Professionally. But also, this is common sense for its the art. It's personal as well. And with your work.

To be honest, in terms of inspiration, I draw it from pretty much anything and everything. I think that's the beauty of being third generation British and being Jamaican allows me to look at and submerge myself in as many things that are available here in the UK. We are very fortunate to be able to have so many different people and so many different views. So, for me, yeah, everything and anything.

Including your interest in sewing?

Well, sewing, yeah, my interest is in being a seamstress, pattern cutter. There's a sewing B show as well. The Great Sewing B, I think it's called. I think it comes on Monday nights or something like that. But it's really good. It's a competition on the BBC and someone will probably win. I think it's £10,000 at the end and sewing contracts of some sort.

Are you gunning for that? Is that going to be you?

In a few years’ time. What I can do when I finish the jacket, I'll definitely send you a photo so you can see it. I haven't uploaded to my Instagram yet, the images, because I don't want to put too much pressure on myself yet. I've got time.

My motivation is that it's more about this kind of telling these stories. And I think the interesting thing is that this has come out of the work that I'm doing for the foundation that wants to have works art in their office. And so, I guess that's the connection. That's how I met you, by seeing your work. And then we have an opportunity to talk about something more nuanced and contextual around that work that is on display in the office and their online kind of platform. But there's more conversations going to be had and stuff and that should always have some degree of relevance for everyone whenever we do get to post this. Finally. Well done, you. That sounds like a really hard time. I can relate my heart out goes out to you, and I really appreciate you sharing your time and your story.

Check out Bryana Burke's Instagram and UAL Graduate Showcase Profile

You can find out more about Joshua Y'Barbo on his Instagram and Website

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