Scarlett Pochet (b.2001) lives and works between Essex and London. She graduated in May 202 with a First Class Fine Art and History Of Art degree from The Slade School Of Fine Art, UCL. She recently co-curated and displayed work in a group show, titled ‘A Pocket Full Of Plenty’ in January 2025 in Netil House, Hackney, in collaboration with Hypha Studios and supporting the charity Women For Refugee Women. She has also taken part in other group shows, including Art On A Postcard’s ‘Paradise Lost Auction’ (2025), ‘Antigone Revisited’, curated by Marcelle Joseph a Hypha HQ (2024), ‘The Art On A Postcard International Women’s Day Auction’ (2024) and ‘Bedrock’ at the Crypt Gallery, curated by the collective, Era Journal (2023).
Does your creative process begin with historical research, or is it more intuitive and material-driven?
I would say a bit of both. Whether I begin an artwork out of curiosity for a specific material or with research, they always end up informing and seeping into one another, branching out into other ideas.
Your sculptures incorporate diverse materials, from latex and fabric to metal and wood. What guides your material choices, and how do they shape the meaning of your work?
I’ve never felt the need to be defined by one sole material in my practice. I’m always in the process of finding materials which excite me and feel right for the work. I am often materially guided by achieving a work which feels visually both historic but also modern, as a means of portraying how certain ancient paradigms appear to be mirrored in contemporary society.
I also have a desire to meld and overlap materials with contrasting properties, acting as carriers for one another. The more durable materials such as wood & metal in turn become vessels for softer or visceral media in my practice such as latex & fabric. In the end my material choices always return to the idea of the body as a container or shell.
In ‘Ridicule My Pleasures & Pleasure My Ridicules’, I used repurposed poplar wood from an old cabinet door thought to be over 100 years old belonging to grandparents in France, which in itself shaped meaning within my research of pockets; ‘the cabinet’ or ‘cupboard’, like ‘the pocket’ or a garment, becomes another holder of family histories, of object life stories, of emotion and of bodily trace.
You have recently explored ‘pockets’ as symbols of privacy and autonomy, particularly in relation to their absence in women’s clothing. How does this seemingly overlooked detail become a lens for examining broader constraints on women’s bodies?
The pocket, both physically and metaphorically, is an enabler for things to be held close to oneself and offers the opportunity for secrecy, privacy and ultimately practicality. The pocket in turn provides a sense of self and allows women to hold possessions of choice. Examining the broader constraints on women’s bodies, I’m interested in the bodily connotations of the pocket as a metaphor for the womb, breasts, bellies, bumps, blisters and other protuberances, and how these connotations were used in the past by men to sexualise, ridicule or demonise women’s needs and desires.
What was the significance of the theme of Paradise Lost for you when creating your piece for this auction?
I didn't directly take inspiration from Paradise Lost; however on reflection of the text, the work shares a common theme of longing; in this instance, the longing for autonomy and breaking away from the rules and regulations imposed upon women’s clothing.
Do you have any projects on the horizon that you would like to share?
I am currently working on a work for an upcoming exhibition in the summer surrounding the theme of haberdashery, responding to the title, ‘House Of Haberdash’, taking place at Torriano Avenue in Kentish Town. In this piece I am creating a sculpture which portrays the pockets of a haberdashery merchant; layered with plenty of secret folds and crevices the work will hold all the necessary buttons and lace to make a garment come to life!
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Questions by Victoria Lucas
