Samantha Boulanger

Samantha was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, but moved to Aberystwyth, West Wales in 1992. She is currently living and working in Swyddffynnon, a small village nestled at the foothills of the Cambrian mountains in Ceredigion, Mid Wales.

She has been working as a freelance artist and self-taught seamstress, also known as ‘The Accidental Up-cyclist’ since 2007. Focusing mostly on recycled textiles, a forager and rescuer of ‘all things fabric’, trying to save unwanted clothing and textiles from ending up in landfill. Creatively revamping and recreating them into unique, funky up-cycled eco finery, giving each item a new lease of life. In 2009 the up-cycled clothing labels ‘Kaotic Kittus’ and ‘Guto the Whippet’ were created, as well as facilitating numerous creative up-cycling workshops. Currently focussing more towards creating and exhibiting her artwork.

Samantha graduated from Aberystwyth University with a BA Fine Art (First Class Honours) in July 2019. She has just completed an MA, also in Fine Art (Sept 2021).

Her passions are predominantly photography and printmaking, often combining the two together and introducing other media to create unique hybrid prints and collages. More recent explorations have taken her into the historical photographic printmaking process of Cyanotype with an alchemical contemporary twist along with botanical eco printing, mixed media and encaustic wax.

Her inspiration comes from the natural world, woodlands, landscapes, and animals. Samantha is also intrigued by the ordinary, the patterns, textures and tonal qualities that surround us, often recreating what is seen as quite mundane and ordinary into something very unique and interesting.

Her practice is definitely driven by an innate curiosity and playfulness; mostly experimenting with the processes themselves and exploring more closely texture, composition, layering, abstraction and the various interactions between photography and printmaking along with other creative media.

Contact Samantha