London Dreams

Anne Desmet (born 1964) is one of the country's leading printmakers. She trained at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, and the Central School of Art, London. In 1989-90 was the recipient of the British School at Rome Scholarship in Printmaking. Her main medium is wood engraving, usually on the theme of urban or architectural transformation. In 2008, MOL acquired 'Our London' a book of prints resulting from an Arts Council England funded project between Desmet and Lauriston School, Hackney. The book included two of her wood engravings alongside fifty prints by Lauriston pupils.

London Dreams marks a departure for Desmet both in scale and technique. The base print is the impression taken from an inked piece of lino salvaged from Lauriston School. Years of chairs, desks and shoes have scratched and pitted the surface resulting in an ambiguous but suggestive image when printed. Onto this she has collaged wood engravings of the Olympic stadium (under construction and complete) the Colosseum, and East End houses and roads, creating a composite image about the 2012 Olympics, the changing face of London, its history and connections, and the passage of time.