Josephine Birch: Each and Every Night

About the artist

Josephine Birch is a Devon-based artist and illustrator whose current work examines the dualities of motherhood. Through self-portraiture that often features her son, she records the tension between privilege and sacrifice inherent in the role. Her imagery moves between direct sketches and fragments of remembered experience: dawn nursing, the dog walk, or a lone figure against a rising moon. By singling out personal details from the interior of an ordinary day, she collages these moments into a narrative of domestic life.

Her practice relies on monotypes for their immediacy, using them to create imaginative assemblages that later inform her etchings and lithographs. This process allows for a fluid transition from a quick observational thought to a more structured print.

Birch holds a first-class B.A. in Illustration and a postgraduate scholarship from The Royal Drawing School, alongside a first-class M.A. from Cambridge School of Art. Her background in storytelling is reflected in her published children’s books, which have received awards from the Society of Illustrators NYC and the Image of the Book Laureate. She has lectured in the arts and is currently Print Co-ordinator at Arts University Plymouth.