Note: This conversation was first published in an edited and condensed format in the first volume of the OPIA Community Magazine, June 2024.
In image: Rinko Kikuchi, 2007 by Kishin Shinoyama, rendered in play-doh by Eleanor Macnair
About 20 years ago Monalisa Smile (one of my favourite movies) was released in theatres. In it, Julia Roberts played the role of the free-spirited, opinionated, art history teacher, Katherine who moves to an elite women’s college in a small town. In one of her lectures, she put up Soutine’s Carcass of Beef on the projector and asked the class if the piece was any good. The group of women, unprepared for that out-of-syllabus piece and question, awkwardly paused. Then discussions broke out raising questions like what is art and who decides if it is any good? These questions are quite central to the conversation you’re about to read, the one I had with play-doh artist Eleanor Macnair.
It was 2018 when I first stumbled upon Eleanor’s art on Instagram. Each of her pieces, without even trying, had a sort of defiance built into them seeing how her medium of choice was play-doh. They are spirited, communicative and when you see one, you’d agree it’s easy to spot an original MacNair. Her work can bring up questions of originality and artistry while also answering those very same questions. The works she renders in play-doh are artistic recreations, interpretations and even tributes to photographs by other artists. She makes her work out of play-doh, photographs them and then takes them apart to reuse the play-doh. Her process and material are not just playful, but show a willingness to let go, keeping only what is essential. The way Eleanor speaks of her work and art in general also shows her desire to invite as many people as are willing to engage with art in a fresh way. Through her unaffected and easy way of making and sharing art, Eleanor brings to the forefront what art can be about: relating, playfulness, and communication.
I reached out to Eleanor a little over 2 years back when I was stuck in a room for months on end, plagued by a sudden, strange mental affliction that would not let me step out of the house. My primary way of staying connected to the wider world then was through the internet. Eleanor did not know all this since I did not want what was my then-life to be the focus of our conversation. But soon after we began our email correspondence, Life decided we should take a break to prioritize our immediate concerns and it was only recently that we could finish this interview. I hope you enjoy Eleanor’s works, the story of how she found this calling and feel inspired to surround yourself with art or make it irrespective of whether the “final piece” is good or bad or to anyone’s (including yours) liking.
Eleanor, so first I would like to start off with a bit about you. I know you're based out of London right now but have you always lived there?
I was born in Nottingham, then moved around the UK quite a bit before living in New York for a couple of years after university, and since then I’ve lived in London. I’ve wanted to leave for a couple of years but I’m trapped due to the cladding scandal over here in the UK - my flat is ‘worthless’ due to fire safety defects so I’m unable to sell it and move. It’s when something this happens you realise how precious all the freedom to move and live anywhere was when you took it for granted.
What brought you to Play-doh. Do you remember what was the first photograph that you reimagined in Play-doh? Or did you start out with some other thing and reimagining photographs happened later?
It’s a strange story of happenstance. My friends were running a photographic ‘pub quiz’ and one of the rounds was to make a photograph in play-doh. So really I stole their idea! It was just by chance that my local supermarket was stocking play-doh at the time - I don’t think it has since. I was experimenting with Tumblr for my day job at the time and so the idea was just really an experiment to remake a couple of photos, post them on tumblr and see what happened, if anything. I think I had a bit of a gut instinct about it. And here we are now! The first image I posted was a portrait of dancer ‘Helen Tamiris’ by Man Ray. It was an image in an exhibition I had worked on in my day job at the National Portrait Gallery. The photograph was made in the late 1920s but seemed so contemporary it could have been made last week. My first re-imagining really wasn’t very good at all!
In image: Eleanor’s first reimagining that she shared on Tumblr
Wow, I love that story! Strange and wonderful how things work out smoothly in a way. Especially in art, I see a lot of really talented people not getting buyers because there's still a habit of investing billions on "known" art and artists. So, what was the process of being found like for you? You're represented by a couple of galleries now… who approached you first? Was it through Tumblr?
It’s all very odd as I never went out looking for galleries or exhibitions– more just threw the work into the world and was interested to see where it went. When my book was published, a gallery my friend works for offered to have the book signing. At the same time, a lady I had randomly met had shown her then boyfriend my Tumblr. He was a gallerist in Los Angeles. So I was making test prints for the LA gallery and then the London gallery wanted to see them and offered me a show. They sent out an invitation for the show which a German gallery saw and then got in touch.. So it all happened very quickly and I was very, very lucky.
In image: Robert Scott, 20, from the series ‘When Living is a Protest’ by Ruddy Roye, rendered in play-doh by Eleanor Macnair
In image: Torso, Paris 1902 by Edward Steichen rendered in Play-doh by Eleanor Macnair
You'd mentioned that you work apart from making art. Is that by choice or necessity?
By necessity, I work. Life never works out how you plan and takes different turns and you have to just go with them. I’m raising my son (who is nearly 3) on my own and so I have to keep a steady income coming in. I work with photographic publishers and galleries and festivals on their communications and PR. I fell into this job in my 20s and I’m now freelance which gives me the flexibility to balance work with my son as childcare is so expensive. This work always has to take priority over the play-doh as it means we can pay our rent and so on. I can make money with print sales but it is never guaranteed. So I have to put my son’s needs first and ensure the income comes in through other work.
I fell into doing PR, and although I didn’t study art nor visit an art gallery until I was 21, I now work in the industry. So from the outside I may seem well connected but that is through hard work and I don’t have a big role - more of a ‘service’ role. I started the play-doh project anonymously and never pushed it but I think knowing how the art/photography world works rather than being ‘known’ in the world was a bigger benefit for me.
But it is interesting because doing PR/comms means that I often spend my days writing about pictures and putting complex ideas into straightforward language. And that is what I am doing with play-doh as well. The art/photography world can seem inaccessible (even to me still, many years later) and so part of what the play-doh and my ‘day job’ are about, is about sharing ideas. With the play-doh I’m also hell-bent on convincing those who know nothing about art, or think that it is ‘not for them’ that it is, and they have just as big a right to access and understand and interpret it as anyone else.
In image: Eleanor in the process of rendering an Antoine d'Agata photograph by Naomi Harris
If you could, would you like to only make art full-time professionally?
It would be amazing to make art works full time, but even having a little bit of time to make art is a massive privilege. This is something I knew before, but have really learnt since becoming a single parent.
In image: Yaksha Modi, the daughter of Chagan Modi, standing in her father’s boutique before its destruction following the Group Areas Act, 17th Street, Fietas, 1976 by David Goldblatt rendered in play-doh by Eleanor Macnair
How do you choose which photograph you want to recreate?
This is a good question and there is no straightforward answer. Sometimes it can be a small detail in a photograph which draws me in, or an interesting backstory, or eye contact of the subject or a multitude of reasons. I tend to squirrel away images I come across on the internet and save them in a folder for the future. During this project I’ve noticed that I’m drawn to images with birds in, sofas and knobbly knees - or perhaps these elements are universally attractive to photographers and so there are more of images featuring these in the first place. Most recently I’ve been making images which incorporate signs, both by artists such as Gillian Wearing or protest signs. I’m interested in how the subject in these photographs has an enduring voice by the use of the handheld sign.
In image: The Right Eye of My Daughter Sigrid, 1928 by August Sander, rendered in play-doh by Eleanor Macnair
In image: Anti-Brexit march and the Downs Festival, Bristol 2019 by Martin Parr, rendered in play-doh by Eleanor Macnair
Has your son’s arrival in your life changed the kind of art you make? Do you approach what you’re creating/leaving behind from a different lens than before?
I don’t think it’s changed my approach but it’s made the time I have to spend on the project much more of a luxury. It is a luxury to have time and space to be creative and make art. I rarely have the luxury these days of time to make new works, so the time I do have is more precious and I appreciate what a privilege it is to have it at all.
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