We Are MA: Jade Squires, MA Fine Art

We Are MA looks at the diverse practices and backgrounds of NUA’s MA students. MA Fine Art student Jade Squires shares her experiences as a feminist collage artist and her other hobbies such as touring with her band.

I am a feminist collage artist currently studying an MA in Fine Art. I aim to inform and empower women whilst creating a supportive community, the creative outlet also is a personal aid.

I play drums in a touring psychedelic doom band, and recently recorded our second album for Hominid Records!

I have completed commissions for band artwork, including imagery for Suzi Quatro, also featuring in publications and exhibitions including Tate Modern and Plymouth Arts Cinema Film Festival.

I am the happiest making work either in my home studio amongst piles of archival material, in the sunshine or with friends in a café. 

My work emerges from a collection of archival materials and a love for 70s Italian horror and witchcraft.

Working from experiments with analogue film and photomontage, I create work that empowers female beauty and feminist ideals, with emphasis of looking at victims of sexual abuse and trauma.

Combining the masculinity of architecture and the vulnerability of the female, this enhances threat and seduction of phallic buildings towards femininity.

The juxtaposition of contrasting images is used to highlight female victimisation of the male gaze within glamour and sexuality.

After graduating at NUA with a Fine Art degree I decided I wanted to develop my own practice and push its boundaries.

I wanted to continue to study in the same university as I develop rapport with the tutors but also establishing myself in the Norwich scene, with knowledge of gallery spaces and other artistic individuals.

Since starting my MA, I have been able to create a digital portfolio of work that is professional and more contextually aware.

In turn this will help me in my next steps towards freelancing further and becoming a Junior Graphic Designer in creative marketing.

My advice for anyone considering an MA is go for it if you are able to and adapt the briefs to your strengths in order to push your ideas, I really found my feet and my practice thanked me for it. 

My next steps will be gaining some certificates in marketing whilst finishing the course with hope for full time employment, along with a re-scheduled band tour and continuation of my freelance work, with my current project being film work for a band’s live stage projections and working collaboratively to develop an artistic publication which supports victims of sexual abuse.