Lisi Ashbridge

“I have an international background with strong multi disciplinary interests - born in Germany, raised in Switzerland, scholarship to an international school (United World College) in Italy, studied Human Sciences at UCL London, followed by a PhD in Neuropsychology at St Andrews, Scotland, postdoc research fellowship at Oxford and lectureship in London. My passion has always been in making things but also in asking how the human brain decodes visual information - how do we recognise objects and shapes, including lettering? Why do we find some more attractive than others? Why is there a specific area in the brain responsible for letter recognition even though from an evolutionary point of view there hasn’t been much time to develop such an area? What about different writing systems from all over the world? The mark making is so varied but the aim is still the same - communication. Abstract, asemic writing, to me, is where the viewer can communicate just with themselves. The artist does not impose their words. Similarly, when I work on commissions with words, such as sculptures or memorials, it is crucial to design lettering which reflects the meaning of the text, the final location of the piece, what is it for and what material is being used. Each job is different, resulting in a visually pleasing and balanced design.”