New Statement A visual artist whose work investigates the social, political and historical aspects of a place and the impact we have on our environments. Houston uses site and object-specific installations to explore connections between the external atmosphere and the internal sensation within places, providing reflections on the language of architecture and the associations we draw through memory and the senses. Houston is a multidisciplinary artist, working predominantly with video, sound and structure, much of her artwork cultivates immersive atmospheres for the spectator, often inviting them to take part or contribute to the work. Using the age old music box, Houston has reappropriated it to explore conflicting emotions of pain and protection, comfort and fear, familiarity and the unknown . The work is at the end of a 6 month project, kindly supported by Arts Council England. Shown as part of City Festival at Newarke Houses (2018) the work since, has gone on to develop and change. Originally looking at the Jack and box has led her to investigate the history of music boxes and the first influential technologies going back to clocks that chime and our desire to measure time by day and night. Houston has contrasted recorded sounds with the rhyme ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’, which dates back to the 1700s and originates in cockney rhyming slang (weasel and stoat for ‘coat’) for the poor at the time pawning their coat for money in hard times. Water is a recurrent theme in her work, perhaps a symbol of creativity and emotion depicting the conflicting feelings of excitement and dread. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England For more info see, leilahoustonart.weebly.com 
Recent video work
2 Comments
Tony Walker
11/21/2018 04:23:16 am
i remember the the rhyme Pop goes the weasel it was made into a hit by max bygraves in the 60s which chimed with the mood of the times. my father ( a patternmaker) was always using bits of cockney rhyming slang in his language an alternative to conventional language. i didnt really understand. i find this a fascinating concept overall. Water - back in the same period in the 60s the film The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman debuted , towards the end of the film at his graduation party where is family are friends are congregated there is a long shot where he dived into the pool and swims around for what seems an eternity underwater oblivious of whats going on. THis suggests to me - isolation, alienation or rebellion. Influential 60s film. Water normally to me suggests calm or things slowing down for instance watching someone swimming is like their actions in slow motion. watching movement under water can be very beautiful. Reading your summary my thoughts went back to the same period - when i was at secondary school we all went to SPence Street Baths (victorian or edwardian) which is near East Park Road - they are no longer there. it was kinda weird because i had to watch due to a silly medical decision, the water was shallow at one end but quite deep at the other. in those days the smell of chlorine was quite strong giving the water a greenish tingue. it might be the first time i thought of myself as an outsider. bw tony walker 4/18/2022 09:05:00 am
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Leila Houston
Leila Houston (London, 1977) is a visual artist whose work investigates the social, political and historical aspects of a place. Categories
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