artist statement
I am a multidisciplinary artist based in Ipswich, United Kingdom. I use installation, sound, and performance to explore gender and embodiment in the information age. I use the language and imagery of memes, targeted ads, conspiracy theories, and propaganda to explore the networked self and the movement of information and commodities. I am interested in the tension between intimacy and surveillance, and how the net can function as both a place of refuge and conflict. I explore the bedroom as the site of production and consumption of digital culture, and the commodification of the feminine in the digital economy. My live performance as robot pop idol Nukleopatra interrogates fandom, digital personhood, and human-machine relationships.My upcoming solo exhibition at The Girling Room (The Minories, 19th-30th August 2026) investigates ‘girl’ as both a performance and a set of characteristics imposed onto artificial beings.
biography
Tilly Hawkins (aka Nukleopatra) has exhibited and performed at art fairs around Europe with arts collective Blackwater Polytechnic. Notable recent exhibitions include Voyager 2000: Worldbeing and Wonder at Firstsite and her solo exhibition Pure Ecstasy Upon Receiving Oblivion at Patch. Tilly has completed artist residencies with the Minories and Computala Festival. Tilly recently received a grant from a-n Artists Information Co, funding digital arts research and development support from Collusion.Tilly is part of the 2025-26 cohort of the Conditions Studio Online Programme, supported by funding from Firstsite’s Collectors Group. She has an MA in Curating from the University of Essex, received academic prizes for her work on the exhibition Lavender Menace at Art Exchange, and took part in the École du Louvre Summer School. Tilly was the SPACE Colchester Studio Bursary awardee for 2021-22, providing her with a subsidised studio and mentoring, and took part in the Mercury Theatre’s talent development programme 2024-25. Tilly has a background in stage acting with the Mercury Theatre Young Company.