March 2021: Ann Shaw

Artist Statement

I make-work about the world I live in and right now it’s Covid.

As a former journalist who went to Glasgow School of Art in 1997 as a mature student my art practice is in response to the world about me. I try to capture “ a moment in time”.

This ranges from video and digital art to monoprinting, installations, and photography.
For the past ten years I have kept an online visual diary documenting my life. (Blipfoto.com/Libra).


An important element in my work is humour, since humour can be used to make a serious point. This is most often expressed in digital drawings.

The written word continues to play an important part of my practice and I have published several books including The Children of Craig-y-nos shortlisted for a medical book award. This resulted in several exhibitions in Wales numerous newspaper, radio and television interviews including the BBC One Show, and recently the BBC World Service : Witness History “Quarantined in a TB sanatorium”.

Also I have written Paolozzi Revealed, based on a diary I kept of about my ten days in his Masterclass.

I am currently working on A Year in Chicago based on my year at the School of the Art Institute.

Stories, both my own and other peoples are an important part of my practice. I am interested in technology and how this is changing the way we make and consume art. 

The world is currently going through enormous changes and artists are the “canaries in the cage” and I believe if art has any function in the world, apart from nurturing the soul, it is to both challenge and highlight these challenges.


(Ann Shaw was a founder member of Falkirk Women’s Aid and Forth Valley Open Studios. As a journalist she was an active trade unionist and member of the National Union of Journalists Equality Working Party).

www.annshaw.co.uk