About

After completing an Architecture degree, Justine returned to education in 2011, undertaking an Art Foundation at the Mary Ward Centre. Subsequently, Justine earned a First-Class Honors degree in Fine Art at UEL, focused on Sculpture and Printmaking. Following years of developing her practice at the Bomb Factory in Islington, where she had her first solo exhibition, Justine received a scholarship funded by Anthony Gormley's foundation to pursue an MAFA at CSM, UAL, graduating with First-Class. There, Justine refined her practice of casting furniture with fabric and household paint to create imprints, alongside incorporating filmmaking to add layers her work.   

Becoming a single mother age 20, Justine has navigated a lifetime of responsibilities, including co-parenting her granddaughter. In addition to her personal pursuits, Justine manages an artist-led gallery in North London, housed in a repurposed coffee shop, providing a platform for underrepresented artists, particularly from marginalised groups. Justine is a hourly paid lecturer at University of East London, taught sculpture workshops at FE colleges including Mary Ward Centre and Havering College, and been asked to guest lecture at CSM (MAFA program). Notable achievements include a commissioned installation at the National Trust's Rainham Hall and participation in a residency at Cove Park, Scotland. Additionally, Justine is part of two female-led curatorial teams collaborating with external organisations to produce exhibitions. Justine will be showing in a joint exhibition with Donna Poingdestre in Portsmouth this May.

Justine Hounam is both a sculptor and filmmaker based in London, and her artistic practice revolves around exploring the connections between individuals, their homes, and household objects, symbolising physical, psychological, and metaphorical aspects of identity.

Hounam's background in architecture shapes her interest in form and materiality, leading her to experiment with sculptural processes in order to innovate new techniques. Justine makes bodily sculptural forms resembling hardened shells by layering household paint onto fabric stretched over domestic wooden furniture. When removed, akin to skin pulled from a body, the fabric retains the imprint of the object it covered. These sculptures, suggestive of territory, reveal the contours and aging of the furniture within. The materiality of the objects is integral, as they contain memories, subjectivity, and personal space, whilst also having the ability to display the erosion of time and experience, which get imprinted onto cloth. Hounam sees the material and its idiosyncrasies as symbolic metaphor of skin and scar tissue.

In addition to sculpture, Hounam produces short films shot from above (birds eye viewpoint), capturing mundane daily tasks in domestic life. Through these films, she uses personal and domestic environments as a backdrop to also question broader societal and political concepts.

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​Professional Doctorate Fine Art, University of East London - ongoing

Central St Martins MA Fine Art 2022 - Distinction

University of East London, 1st Class BA (Hons)

BA Fine Art, September 2011 - July 2014

Foundation in Art and Design, 2010-2011 Distinction

University of North London (now Metropolitan University)

BSC Architecture, 1989-1992

Foundation Foundation Scholarship, 2020-22

Art and Design: Practice Research Publication, May 2014

CSM Graduate Showcase, UAL Kings Cross, June 2022

Power, Way Out East, 8-11 March 2022

Concrete Blue, Group Exhibition at ASC Unit 3, London, 4-11 September 2020

I Promise You, Group Exhibition at Apairy Studio, London 5-8 March 2020

The Denney Edition: Celebrating An Icon Of 20th Century Style

Commission June 2019 – 2021 at Rainham Hall, National Trust

Geography Of Interiors, Group Exhibition at ASC Unit 3, London, 7-9 June 2019

Affirmation, Group Exhibition, Art Number 23, Old Biscuit Factory, London, 15 March

Skins, Solo Exhibition at The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, 24 – 26 2018

T’art, Bones & Pearl Gallery, Group Exhibition, 7 – 9 March 2017

Dark Regards, Ply Gallery, Group Exhibition, 20 – 30 January 2017

Summer Salon, Lubomirov/Angus-Hughes, Group Exhibition, 23 July – 24 August 2016

Trumped, Art Auction, CNB Gallery, Tramshed, March 16

Drying Depot, Trinity Buoy Wharf, 14 April 2016, Group Exhibition with Alexis Harding, Alaena Turner, Daryl Brown, Sophia Starling

Walthamstow Art Trail, 15 Upper Walthamstow Road, 30 May - 14 June 2015

Art Auction, CNB Gallery, Tramshed, 32 Rivington Street, London 28 - 30 April

Remember, Group Exhibition, St Johns, Bethnal Green, London, April 17 - 19 2015

Tondo, Group Exhibition, AVA Building, London 18 - 26 Feb 2015

Top Draw, Group Exhibition, Olympia, 14 - 16 September 2015

Group Exhibition, Queens Wood, N10, August 2014

Group Exhibition, AVA Building, London, 29 - 1 June 2014

Time, Art Auction, CNB Gallery, Tramshed, 32 Rivington Street, London March 2014

Forms Of Subversion, Group Exhibition, Asylum Chapel, Peckham, London, 7 - 9 March 2014

Group Exhibition, AVA Gallery, Docklands 4 - 6 February 2014

Light And Weight, Group Exhibition, Rag Factory, Brick Lane, London, 22 - 25 November 2013

Group Exhibition, AVA Gallery, UEL, Docklands 29 October 2013

Portlanders, Group Exhibition, AVA Gallery, UEL, Docklands Campus 2 - 9 October 2013

Innoninate, Group Exhibition, 5th Base Gallery, Brick Lane, London 6 - 7 May 2013

Grace of London, Mount Street Gallery, London 11 - 14 June

Transformation, Our Space Gallery, June 27 2012 until August 31 2012

Olympics Print Exhibition, FSA, Canary Wharf, 21 May 2012