Artist Carson Parkin-Fairley uses her career-spanning enthusiasm for worship and adoration to realise a community project in creating ‘Icons of Ramsgate’

An artist obsessed with acts of celebration, Ramsgate’s Carson Parkin-Fairley’s work examines joy and adoration, from ceremonies to grand altars and where we humans place our worship. Taking commissions to create shrines to both loved ones and celebrities alike, Carson’s colourful and multi-platform works have been displayed across the globe, from having work alongside that of Nick Cave and Billy Childish in Fitzrovia to the Let’s Pretend Gallery in Melbourne, Australia. But, much closer to home, her latest project Icons of Ramsgate focuses on the community and celebrates the stories of four local people.

Having moved to Kent 12 years ago - just enough time for her friends to stop calling her a DFL - Carson has become embedded in the community and you can see her work in all sorts of places, from the signage at Ramsgate Thrift Store to helping out at the Happy Mondays community group for accessible arts in Ramsgate.

“I love Kent,” she says. “When I first moved, I didn’t know anyone and I made a whole group of friends I’m going to know for the rest of my life. In many ways, my Kent friends taught me how I want to welcome people in my life.”

With her Icons project set to be at the Wooden Box Gallery in Ramsgate from 23rd-26th November 2023, we thought it high time to catch up with Carson to find out more.

Hey Carson, how would you describe your style to people who haven’t seen it?

Eclectic, colourful, maximalist, kitsch, joyful and fun. I’ve always loved colour and decoration and over-the-top kitsch, so you see lots of that in what I create.

How did you get into creating art in the first place?

I was raised by a family of creatives. My mum is a writer and painter, my dad’s always done these incredible technical illustrations and my granny is a woman called Molly Parkin, who is an artist and writer - she was pretty well known in the ’60s for writing comic erotica (and for having a lot of fun, among many other things). She’s also an incredible painter and she taught me never to be afraid of art. It was such a blessing having such a close relationship with her growing up - she used to take me to the V&A after school all the time and we’d lie on the floor in the fashion department with all our pens out drawing. It took me 30 years to call myself an artist, though, which is mad because I’ve been making it my whole bloody life.

You’ve had exhibitions all over the UK and abroad - have any caused that ‘pinch me’ moment of joy?

I have ‘pinch me’ moments of joy all the time. Generally, any time you put on an exhibition it’s a massive rush of joy and gratitude. The most recent one, two friends (Paul Thiry, furniture-maker and artist, and Ellen Russell, tufting artist) and I put on at the Pie Factory in Margate, I was so overwhelmingly proud of what we’d made, it was a huge feeling of accomplishment. Showing strangers your work and knowing they understand what you put into it is one of the most joyful feelings out there.

We love your icon pieces in particular. How do you go about creating them? Are you a serial collector of mags and packaging because of it?

I’ve always collected tiny things and made shrines at home, so I guess in some way I was always prepping for this. Shrine-making is such a female trait, I think, even when you think about old grannies with little side tables, they’d maybe have a doily and a Virgin Mary statue and some other little things they liked placed around them. I like to think accidental altars are everywhere, you just have to open your eyes.

If I’m making a personal icon, it’ll start with an interview, learning all about someone’s life. If it’s of a famous person, I research them tirelessly, reading articles, watching interviews and so on - then I figure out their personal symbology, gather a bunch of family photos and get to work. Everything used in the icon pertains to a certain story from someone’s life, so they’re rammed with meaning. Generally, I’ll make a huge digital collage I’ll use as a backdrop, then make little symbols out of polymer clay, paint and decorate the frame. The great thing is they can be as detailed as you want, they can be proper little Wunderkammers. One of my recent commissions said every time they look at it, they find something different.

Are most of your pieces commissioned?

Most of my icons are to commission. When I started, I would make some of my icons, but everyone has their own, so it’s better to let people choose. The personal commissions I make are my favourite, though. I think everyone is iconic and all our stories are so unique - we all deserve celebrating. So it’s fun to make people’s grandmas and partners, and themselves. Most people tell me they cry when they’re gifted to them, I guess because they feel so seen by the people around them. Like a true celebration of a person, which is the whole point. And when people commission them of themselves is a pleasure - they end up being a co-created piece because they reflect how you see yourself, rather than how the world sees you. However, English people have such a shame around vanity, I rarely get those enquiries from the UK.

What has been your best collage or cut-out find?

I loved making my mum’s icon because I went through all her old art-school sketchbooks, so it felt like peering into the life of a woman whom I know so well but looking at who she was before me. That was fun. Making the digital print of my granny was funny, too - she had such a riotous life before I ever knew her.

Tell us about the Ramsgate icon commission

The Icons of Ramsgate celebrates the stories of local people. I’ve asked people to nominate someone from Ramsgate they think deserves celebrating and I’m going to pick four at random to turn into works of art. I’m doing three workshops with East Kent Mencap, Pie Factory Youth Centre and a women’s social group, The Screaming Marys, where everyone is going to make an icon of themselves under my guidance. We’ll exhibit them all at the Wooden Box Gallery in November for the world to see. I hope it’ll make people feel special, celebrated and truly iconic. I’m so hyped for the work everyone will make – Ramsgate’s filled with icons!

INSTA: @carsonparkinfairley
INFO: carsonparkinfairley.com