A brush with… Jane and Louise Wilson

Jane and Louise Wilson talk to Ben Luke about their influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped their lives and work. Jane and Louise Wilson, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, in 1967, have been collaborating as a duo since their student days in the late 1980s. Identical twins, they have used their connection as a means of exploring duality, mirroring, and the notion of selfhood amid complex geopolitical contexts. Primarily working in video installation, photography and sound, they have accessed loaded and atmospheric sites, from abandoned military sites to borderlands, and used diverse cultural phenomena, including specific works of art, literature and cinema, to reflect on the environments we occupy and the ways in which they are constructed physically and in terms of political and social meaning. They discuss the pronounced sense of duality and mirroring in their work, the origins of their official partnership in art, shaped by their upbringing, and the enduring relationship between photography and film in their practice. They recall the early impact of John Martin’s work, and how Cindy Sherman proved a hugely significant inspiration in their student days. They discuss artists as diverse as Victor Pasmore, Rita Donagh, Carrie Mae Weems and Nam June Paik and reflect on the enduring influence of film-makers from Rainer Werner Fassbender to Jean Cocteau and Stanley Kubrick. Plus, they give insight into their life in the studio and answer our usual questions, including the ultimate: what is art for?

Jane and Louise Wilson: Performance of Entrapment, London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, until 10 January 2026; Dendrophiles, Leadenhall Building, Sculpture in the City, London, until spring 2026.

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