Libby Bove is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and folklorist. Her work is centred around ideas which reposition folk custom and magical practice back at the forefront of daily life. Drawing on archival methodologies and documentary,  her work slips between fact and fiction. By employing traditional craft processes, plausibility is woven into constructed myths; transposing ideas of ancient customs, traditions and rituals into incongruous contemporary settings, non-existent pasts, and speculative future landscapes.  

Working across a range of media including ceramics, textiles and found objects, she creates sculptural works, masks, and wearable costume pieces. These physical elements are brought together through performative photographic tableaux, where they become visual narratives that evoke both archival documentation and surreal fever dreams. Authenticity, and the potential for the work to be believable, is integral to her practice; physical works are often accompanied by ‘field’ recordings, ‘documentation’ of folk songs, and descriptive ‘historic’ texts, all aimed at crafting a palpable form of surround sound storytelling. 

A central theme within her practice is Roadside Magic, an imagined construct where plant knowledge, magic and ritual play essential roles in the repair and maintenance of vehicles. Inspired by Albions rich history of folk magic, alongside her own lived experience of life on the road, both professionally and domestically. Roadside Magic, seeks to re-establish the valuable role of everyday ritual.

Libby Bove. b.1991. Graduated from Bath Spa University in 2024, with a BA in Fine Art. Recent awards include, New Contemporaries (2024), The Hari Art Prize (2024), The Kenneth Armitage Sculpture Prize (2024), Spike Island Studio Fellowship (2024) and The Porthleven Prize (2022). Notable Exhibitions & Commissions include: New Contemporaries, I.C.A. (2025); Reimagining the Archive Commission, The Box Plymouth, (2025) Lore & Land, Touring (2024/25)

Image: Leonie Freeman