Laura incorporates text into many areas of her practice. She is passionate about the simultaneous complexity and mundanity of words (be they spoken or written) as well as grammatical playfulness, the poetry of every day conversation, the impact of slogans, sayings and proverbs, dialects, the evolution of slang and the possibilities of morphing, twisting, expanding and visualising the word on the page, in the mouth and out loud.

In December 2018, Laura initiated a network of women/wimmin/womxn artists who write. The network meets every few weeks in a different location and each meeting is different, responding to the changing needs of the group. The emphasis is on support, facilitation, discussion and development. There is no pressure to produce and each member has an individual approach to using text in their artistic practice or process. In May 2018 Laura invited the members of the network to contribute to An Invitation, a collection of works in the form of an A5 zine in a limited edition of 100.

You can read Laura’s poetry and some other writings here: appeartodisappear.com.

Laura has also self-published a handmade zine, Number 23 (edition of 23) for ‘Bookish, a book fair of sorts at 38b Projects’ and a zine-catalogue, I WANT MY IDEAL PASTE for an exhibition she curated in 2017 (designed by Melanie Börner). In 2017 she completed her MA dissertation, Escaping Myself, Becoming All Else – Several Attempts to Live Outside the Skin I Am In, which she produced as a perfect bound, soft cover A5 book in a silicone wrap (edition of 2). 

Laura Dee Milnes, The Making of Her (2018). Front cover.

In 2018, Laura completed her first book, The Making of Her, a collection of vignettes and illustrations. She is currently looking into how she will publish this book, which may take the form of a series of episodic publications, released monthly.

For information on how to access these publications, contact Laura.

Laura’s work has been featured in a number of publications including: Perpetual Inventory Vol. 3 (published by Offline Press, edited by Camille Yvert); ARC 21 (Royal College of Art magazine, edited by MA Writing students); Poor Lass (edited by Seleena Laverne Daye and Em Ledger); Fanzine Concept!Editorial (published by Fukin’ Fan Riot Press, edited by Owen G. Parry); Poetry Nights II (published by The Society Club, edited by Chip Martin).

In the past, Laura has also contributed articles for Artsonline, where she wrote about her experiences in and out of work, on the bottom rung of the arts ladder as an emerging artist and producer. She has written film reviews for filmjuice.com and movieramblings.com, and has contributed to a publication by the National Campaign for the Arts.

Top image: Laura Dee Milnes, Self portrait, in the office (2011). Detail.