Sue Webster's Artistic Rebirth: From YBA Power Couple to Solo Motherhood
In a revealing new interview, Sue Webster opens up about her journey from being half of one of the 1990s' most celebrated art partnerships to forging a defiant solo career and embracing motherhood at 52. The artist, who rose to fame alongside Tim Noble as part of the Young British Artists movement, is preparing for her first institutional solo exhibition titled Birth of an Icon at Firstsite in Colchester.
The End of an Era: Unravelling After the Split
Webster and Noble's partnership defined British contemporary art for over three decades, beginning when they met on their first day at Nottingham art school. Their shadow sculptures made from meticulously arranged junk became iconic, catching the attention of collector Charles Saatchi who famously purchased works with his taxi still running outside their Shoreditch studio.
The couple stopped living together in 2012, divorced in 2018, and severed professional ties in 2020. Webster describes the separation as "almost like a death" and profoundly traumatic. "I spent half my life with Tim," she reflects. "I'd never lived on my own. I wanted to unravel my brain, and work out how I ended up here."
Crime Scene: A Confessional Masterpiece
The centrepiece of her upcoming exhibition is Crime Scene, a wall-filling work that connects hundreds of artefacts from Webster's life. From teenage obsessions with Siouxsie and the Banshees to German culture references and an unopened 2016 packet of Walker's crisps celebrating Leicester City's Premier League victory, the piece serves as both autobiography and exorcism.
Among the most poignant items pinned to the wall is a hospital letter from 2011 documenting her miscarriage while still with Noble. "I define that as being the turning point in our relationship," Webster reveals. The experience was devastating: "They said to me, go home. You've got to lie down and wait for the baby to come... It was one of the worst things ever."
Boxing to Exorcise the Badness
Webster's journey has been marked by resilience forged through adversity. At age 13, she spent six months in a Leicester inpatient unit, an experience that shaped her approach to mental wellbeing. "Being poisoned by sedatives numbed any unwanted thoughts," she writes in her 2019 book I Was a Teenage Banshee.
Today, she maintains a rigorous physical routine to manage what she calls "the badness that seems to build up inside." "I need to swim each morning or else box at my gym most nights of the week in order to exorcise the badness," she explains, describing boxing as a therapeutic practice for emotional release.
Late-Career Motherhood and Artistic Renewal
In a defiant reversal of traditional expectations, Webster became a mother at 52 through IVF after four attempts and multiple miscarriages. Her son Spider, now five, features prominently in her new work, including striking paintings of herself pregnant that give the exhibition its title.
"There was nothing but 'this is what's meant to happen'," Webster says about reactions to her late motherhood, proudly noting she has challenged the age-old cliché that only men can have children later in their careers.
The artist has spent recent years doggedly refining her painting technique, moving from acrylics to oils with help from YouTube tutorials and advice from her local art shop. "I'm making the most personal work," she says of her new direction, which represents a complete departure from her collaborative output with Noble.
Looking Forward While Acknowledging the Past
Webster acknowledges that an entire show's worth of unseen Tim and Sue work remains in storage, including what she believed would be "the best fucking show in the world" planned for Berlin in 2020. That exhibition never happened due to both the pandemic and her realisation that she could no longer work with Noble.
"It would be really weird to show it now," she admits. "I'm on a trajectory with my own work, so I can't go back to it. I've managed to separate myself from that work."
Her former partner has also moved in a completely different artistic direction. "Tim and I have both gone off in completely opposite directions," Webster observes. "He's gone off into his own mind. I've gone very introspective."
For Webster, this solo exhibition represents both personal and artistic liberation. "I'm happy for the opportunity to make the work that I'm making now," she concludes. "It's true to me. I didn't feel comfortable with it before, but I do now. And I feel like the world's ready to see it."
Sue Webster: Birth of an Icon runs at Firstsite, Colchester from 31 January to 10 May, marking a significant new chapter for one of Britain's most compelling contemporary artists.
