The One Self
Yeside Linney, Searching, mixed media, resin on panel board, (c) Yeside Linney
Yeside Linney was born in Nigeria, to the Yoruba ethnic group. When she was 2 years old, she fell seriously ill. Out of love and a deepheld belief her grandmother made two incisions on each side of the child’s face to release the evil spirits. These marks have faded over time and are now barely visible yet they remain an indelible part of Yeside’s personality.
Yeside Linney, Reshaping Memories, acrylic on dibond, (c) Yeside Linney
Yeside Linney, Mindful, acrylic and mixed media on dibond, (c) Yeside Linney
A soft-spoken woman whose eyes are full of life and a quiet intelligence, Yeside began experimenting with art in her late ‘60s, after a career teaching English literature. I met her by luck when she walked into the gallery having arrived half an hour early for a private view at another gallery nearby. We struck up a conversation - first about the artworks on display, then about belonging, about being born in one culture and raised in another.
Yeside Linney, Harvesting Truth, acrylic on dibond, (c) Yeside Linney
Born in Nigeria and raised in England since age 4, Yeside belongs to both places and to neither. The Yoruba is an inextricable part of her yet she does not have the kind of intimate knowledge of a culture that comes from being raised in it. Her upbringing is British yet her looks - the curl of her hair, the fading markings on either side of her cheeks - stand her apart. Does she conform or does she accept her differences?
Yeside Linney, Freedom to Choose, diptych, acrylic and Inks on dibond, (c) Yeside Linney
Yeside works mainly in acrylics and inks, often with the application of a resin coating. Her art is as much an examination of different media, colours, and forms inspired by her love of nature as it is a poetic exploration of her Self and the environment along the continuum that is life.
To accept one’s past, one’s history, is not the same thing as drowning in it. Through my art, I am learning how to use it. (Yeside Linney)
Yeside Linney, Tranquillity, Acrylic on Dibond, (c) Yeside Linney
Yeside Linney, Between the Shadow and the Soul, acrylic and inks on dibond, resined, (c) Yeside Linney
Many of us living in places different from those of our birth - and for some who do not conform in looks or attitude, the very place of our birth - have faced similar questions and I think most of us came to similar answers. In youth, many try to conform but growing older and more confident, most choose to accept and to welcome the differences.
Yeside Linney, We are Wonderers Still, fine art print, Edition of 25, (c) Yeside Linney
Despite coming to art late in life, Yeside has been widely exhibited. She is the winner of The Euan Millar Abstract Prize and The Susan Angoy Prize in The Holly Bush Emerging Artists Awards 2022 and is the Runner Up in the 2021 Surrey Artist of the Year competition. You can find more about Yeside and her art on her website, http://www.yeside.com and IG @yesidelinney.