Maisie Broadhead

In 2009, Maisie Broadhead graduated from the Gold, Silver, Metal and Jewellery department at the Royal College of Art, with a collection of photography and jewellery, modern day reinterpretations of historical paintings where jewellery is at the centre of the image’s meaning. This practice, using a known “image form” in conjunction with contemporary details to alter narratives and create new layers of reference and meaning remains central to her work.

Always working in collaboration, often with family members and friends, Maisie painstakingly builds complex theatrical sets from scratch, sourcing fabrics and props, bringing all the component parts together. She has recently begun to incorporate film, in which she lays bare the illusory nature of her practice.

Of this commission Maisie says: ‘Chatsworth is bursting with important portraits of the characters that have passed through this historical house with its colourful history. The quantity and extravagance of rooms for its guests is overwhelming, this was the ultimate party house for yesteryear’s high society. And Then She Was Gone is hung in the (former) Bachelors’ Passage, a modern day but anonymous bachelor woman just passing through like all the other bachelors before.”

Maisie has exhibited widely since 2009, most recently at the National Gallery London in “Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present”, and won a place in the Jerwood Makers Open 2013, Jerwood Space, London.