Jill Martin Boualaxai
- Work
- Biography
My practice explores the archaeological uncanny — the point where fragments, artefacts, and ruins slip between fact and fiction. I create new mythologies from what remains, producing objects and installations that connect the present to the past through imagined futures.
I understand drawing as ritual — not limited to paper, but a practice of repetition, trace, and transformation that runs through painting, performance, and sculpture. Drawing expands into space and matter — unfolding as floor-based performance scores, layered accumulations of marks, or sculptural forms shaped through repetition and process. Each trace acts as both residue and proposition: a mark of what has passed and a suggestion of what might emerge.
Material research is central to this enquiry. I work with clay, glass, and oxides — often following ancient recipes and processes to imagine new archaeologies through material transformation. These experiments test fragility, transformation, and colour, producing fragments that feel both unearthed and speculative, objects that unsettle certainty while offering new mythologies.
At its core, my practice reimagines ruins and sites in transition while drawing on the ritual practices and subcultures that shape society. By treating drawing as ritual and materials as mutable, I create works that function as speculative artefacts — puzzles of the past glimpsed through possible futures.
I understand drawing as ritual — not limited to paper, but a practice of repetition, trace, and transformation that runs through painting, performance, and sculpture. Drawing expands into space and matter — unfolding as floor-based performance scores, layered accumulations of marks, or sculptural forms shaped through repetition and process. Each trace acts as both residue and proposition: a mark of what has passed and a suggestion of what might emerge.
Material research is central to this enquiry. I work with clay, glass, and oxides — often following ancient recipes and processes to imagine new archaeologies through material transformation. These experiments test fragility, transformation, and colour, producing fragments that feel both unearthed and speculative, objects that unsettle certainty while offering new mythologies.
At its core, my practice reimagines ruins and sites in transition while drawing on the ritual practices and subcultures that shape society. By treating drawing as ritual and materials as mutable, I create works that function as speculative artefacts — puzzles of the past glimpsed through possible futures.
Jill Martin Boualaxai
Email: JillMBoualaxai@gmail.com
http://www.jillmboualaxai.com
Select Exhibitions
July 2024 ‘Elpendier’ collaborative walkabout performance, Kelburn Garden Party 2024
March 2024 ‘pick a pigeon’, Pigeon Fanciers, Sett Studios
June 2023 ‘Orbital’, Hidden Door Festival
August 2022 ‘Triangles Exist Within the Circle’ Degree Show, Edinburgh College of Art May 2022 - ‘Tough Crowd’ Group Show MA CAP, Whitespace Gallery March 2021 - ‘An Unraveling’, Group Show MA CAP, Embassy Gallery October 2021 - ‘ First Marks’, Group Show MA CAP Embassy September 2018 - ‘NewFangled >OldFangled’, Colony of Artists September 2018 - ‘Fun of the Fair’, Art Walk Porty October 2018 - ‘ Seeing the Unseen’, Watermill Gallery, Aberfeldy May 2018 - Ghost Lines, Hidden Door Festival
September 2017 – ‘Re/covered < > Re/formed’, Edgelands Project, Art Walk Porty
June 2017 – ‘Fossil’, Hidden Door Festival
May 2016 - ‘E.R.R.R.’ (EJECT RELOAD REWIND REPLAY),
Hidden Door Festival February 2016 – Stratigraphic, Gayfield Creative Spaces
May 2015 – 'The Space in between’, Hidden Door Festival April 2014 - 'Spadework' Vault 5, Hidden Door FestivalSeptember 2014 – Colony of Artists June 2013 - Leith Late Festival- 'Composite Landscapes', The Old Ambulance Depot
Teaching & Creative Work
September 2012 - present / Founder & Tutor at Look & Draw Workshops, Wasps Artists Studios, Dalry.
2009 – Ongoing / Creative Lead & Visual Art Curator at Hidden Door Festival
Education
Edinburgh College of Art
MA Contemporary Art Practice September 2020 - August 2022
Leith School of Art
Painting course 2006 - 7
Foundation course 2004 - 5
King Alfreds Collage
MA Field Archaeology 1997 - 9
BA Archaeology
Email: JillMBoualaxai@gmail.com
http://www.jillmboualaxai.com
Select Exhibitions
July 2024 ‘Elpendier’ collaborative walkabout performance, Kelburn Garden Party 2024
March 2024 ‘pick a pigeon’, Pigeon Fanciers, Sett Studios
June 2023 ‘Orbital’, Hidden Door Festival
August 2022 ‘Triangles Exist Within the Circle’ Degree Show, Edinburgh College of Art May 2022 - ‘Tough Crowd’ Group Show MA CAP, Whitespace Gallery March 2021 - ‘An Unraveling’, Group Show MA CAP, Embassy Gallery October 2021 - ‘ First Marks’, Group Show MA CAP Embassy September 2018 - ‘NewFangled >OldFangled’, Colony of Artists September 2018 - ‘Fun of the Fair’, Art Walk Porty October 2018 - ‘ Seeing the Unseen’, Watermill Gallery, Aberfeldy May 2018 - Ghost Lines, Hidden Door Festival
September 2017 – ‘Re/covered < > Re/formed’, Edgelands Project, Art Walk Porty
June 2017 – ‘Fossil’, Hidden Door Festival
May 2016 - ‘E.R.R.R.’ (EJECT RELOAD REWIND REPLAY),
Hidden Door Festival February 2016 – Stratigraphic, Gayfield Creative Spaces
May 2015 – 'The Space in between’, Hidden Door Festival April 2014 - 'Spadework' Vault 5, Hidden Door FestivalSeptember 2014 – Colony of Artists June 2013 - Leith Late Festival- 'Composite Landscapes', The Old Ambulance Depot
Teaching & Creative Work
September 2012 - present / Founder & Tutor at Look & Draw Workshops, Wasps Artists Studios, Dalry.
2009 – Ongoing / Creative Lead & Visual Art Curator at Hidden Door Festival
Education
Edinburgh College of Art
MA Contemporary Art Practice September 2020 - August 2022
Leith School of Art
Painting course 2006 - 7
Foundation course 2004 - 5
King Alfreds Collage
MA Field Archaeology 1997 - 9
BA Archaeology
- Jill Martin Boualaxai
- Triangles exist within the Circle
- Installation
- Jill Martin Boualaxai
- Triangles exist within the Circle
- Installation
- Jill Martin Boualaxai
- Triangles exist within the Circle
- Installation
- Jill Martin Boualaxai
- Lollipop
- Cast glass
- Jill Martin Boualaxai
- Trafic Light
- Cast glass
- Jill Martin Boualaxai
- Dancers
- Cast glass
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