Justine Hounam’s practice explores themes of memory, domesticity, and the physical traces of human presence through casting everyday objects and furniture. Using materials such as fabric, household paint, and varnish, her work preserves imprints that transform familiar forms into sculptural skins. By capturing absence as much as presence, her pieces evoke personal histories and emotional resonance, reflecting on relationships, home, and lived experience.
Justine Hounam’s filmmaking extends her exploration of memory, domesticity, and personal history into moving images. She creates short films shot from a bird’s-eye view, capturing mundane domestic activities with an almost voyeuristic detachment. These intimate yet distanced perspectives highlight the routines and imprints of daily life, transforming ordinary gestures into meditations on presence, absence, and emotional weight. By using personal and domestic environments as a lens, Hounam’s films subtly engage with broader societal and political themes, questioning the boundaries between private and public, personal and collective experience.
After earning a Fine Art degree from UEL and an MAFA from CSM, UAL—funded by a scholarship from Anthony Gormley’s foundation—Hounam refined her multidisciplinary approach. She has exhibited widely and received commissions, including an installation at the National Trust’s Rainham Hall. She has also completed a residency at Cove Park, Scotland.
Balancing personal responsibilities, including co-parenting her granddaughter, Hounam manages an artist-led gallery in North London that supports underrepresented artists. She teaches at UEL and has led sculpture workshops at FE colleges. She has also guest lectured at CSM’s MAFA program.
Actively engaged in curatorial collaborations, she contributes to female-led exhibition projects. In March 2025, she participated in a joint exhibition, Sorry About the Mess, curated by Millie Walton. Hounam’s work continues to bridge sculpture, film, and social commentary through deeply personal yet universally resonant themes.
Education
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
Awards
Foundation Foundation Scholarship, 2020-22
Art and Design: Practice Research Publication, May 2014
Exhibitions
Skin, JY Gallery, South Korea, May 2025
Unearthing the Archive, Both Gallery, 2025
Sorry about the Mess, 125 Shaftesbury Avenue, March 2025
Traces, Both Gallery, January 2025
Stairing Up, Tower Gallery, December 2044
The Sky is Moving Sideways, Stephens House & Gardens, September 2024
Extra Shift, Both Gallery, June 2024
Offprint Projects, Tate Modern, May 2024
Straw for Nothing, Round Tower, Hotwalls, Portsmouth April 2024
Viewpoint, BOTH Gallery, February - March 2024
In Out, Hive Curates, Gerry Raffles Square, January - February 2024
Domestic Engineering, Solo Exhibition, October 2023
Mother of All, BOTH Gallery, October 2023
Blue, BOTH Gallery, April 2023
States of Exchange, Hypha Studios, April-June 2023
Stretch, Somers Gallery, March 2023
The Colour of Memory, Bomb Factory Gallery, November 2022
All Change, Banner Repeater, July 7 2022
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