Sue Williams received the Gold Medal Award, National Eisteddfod, Wales as well as receiving The Rootstein Hopkins, London Painting Award in 2000. She has won international recognition when shortlisted as the only British artist for the Artes Mundi International Visual Art Prize 2006, selected by Ivo Mesquita, curator for Projecto Octogono, Pinacoteca do Estado, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Deepak Ananth, curator and lecturer at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Caen, France.
In 2006 Sue Williams’ solo touring exhibition ‘small talk, high heels’ curated by the Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK. This subsequently toured to the Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, North Wales and the National Galleries, in both Bulawayo and Harare, Zimbabwe in February and March 2007. This Africa tour received the ‘……..dirty linen on line….!’ drawing installation under the umbrella title of ‘small talk, high heels’.
Sue Williams has work in the collection of the National Museum and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff; The Contemporary Art Society of Wales and The National Assembly of Wales. Works have been sold through Sothebys and are part of numerous private collections.
Her work has been reproduced and critiqued within a number of publications, most recently the Artes Mundi 2006, the ‘small talk, high heels’ exhibition catalogue and NY Arts magazine publication February 2007. She has also been selected for The Women’s Art Library, Special Collections, Library, Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Sue Williams work has been driven by the desire to understand and interpret the psychological world of the human condition and the ever-increasing pressures that drive us to behave in certain ways. The inspiration has been founded on the notion of the ‘….tit bits…’ a play with reality and fantasy from a feminine perspective, often subverting the truth through image and text, in both a serious and playful manner. The main thrust in the work is drawing - drawing been used as an urgent and immediate tool for visualising my responses, thus ‘……… dirty linen on line…..!’ This constantly growing installation of drawing is addictive, involving both memory and fantasy and at the same time conveying a meaning at both the political and the private levels. The analytical has been a constant throughout my work, using the visual image as a recording of the unconscious - the conscious, the safe – the unsafe, the real – the unreal. It is through this particular visual dialogue that a number of certain issues are highlighted and become part of a much larger picture.

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“THROUGH GLASS” series 2006
The larger picture for 2006 named the ‘THROUGH GLASS’ series, responded to 21st century forms of communication, through mobile text messaging, emails and television. These modes of communicating clearly offer a unique dialogue between two people but transcends normal human communication i.e. talking. To explore our dependence and fascination with this technological communication Sue Williams recorded every text message received throughout a period of 12 months, being the intention to base a body of work on the psychological issues related to text messaging and their interpretations. The works reveal an ambiguous boundary between a secure place and the insecure place, between the real and the imagined. Throughout the process of drawing the work teases and questions the notion of the Self – both sexual and cerebral. The deconstruction of such relationships highlights issues of gender and race, which continue to resonate in contemporary culture - particularly in relation to female fantasy, femininity, and vulnerability. A desire to understand the complex nature of communication in all situations particularly in the bedroom, the lap-dancing club, from intimate relationships, relationships between different cultures, binge drinking, and the sex industry to street culture. ARTES MUNDI 2006/ UK and AFRICA TOUR
Sue Williams had been nominated and selected for the Artes Mundi Prize 2006 by two leading curators from Brazil and Paris, Ivo Mesquita and Deepak Aneeth.The works have since been touring major galleries in Africa under the umbrella title “small talk, high heels”.

2006 Other
o Three Parts Iced Over. A total theatre performance and exhibition, Cardiff
o Most recently nominated for the Artes Mundi for 2006
o Most recently nominated for the Arts Foundation Fellowship for 2006-07
2005
o Part-time lecturer at Faculty of Art and Design, Swansea. Wales
o Selected for the Mostyn 15 Open, Llandudno, Wales
2004
o Speaker at The Glynn Vivian gallery, Swansea - ELSEWHERE Exhibition
o ELSEWHERE Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
o META Bay Art Gallery, Bute Street, Cardiff
o Harlech Biennale/The Hague
2003
o Speaker at The Mission Gallery, Swansea - Warren Williams Exhibition
o Selected for the Mostyn 13 Open, Llandudno, Wales
o Work selected from National Museum & Galleries of Wales Collection for Oriel Davies Gallery, Newtown, Powys
o 'META' Aberystwyth, Wales
o Welsh Contemporaries, London
2002
o A Propos - National Museum & Gallery of Wales - Commision
o Drawing in response to Leonardo da Vinci, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea - Residency
o Part-time lecturer at Faculty of Art and Design, Swansea. Wales
o National Museum & Galleries of Wales talk - A PROPOS
o Project Co-ordinator for "Seeing Drawing" DVD University of Plymouth and London Institute
o Speaker at the National Womens Conference, Gregynog, Wales
2001
o SITE-ATIONS Project, Staten Island, New York - Residency
2000
o National Eisteddfod Gold Medal Award
o Rootstein Hopkins Foundation Award for Painting
o UNG - YOUNG - JUNG, Avesta Biennale
1999
o Drawing Programme. University Wales Institute, Cardiff.Wales
o Artist in Residence, Swansea College - Residency
o Visual Arts Board, Arts Council of Wales
o Sessional lecturer Faculty of Art & Design, University of Plymouth, Exeter
1998
o Drawing in Education The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea - Residency
1996
o Drawing in Education Mostyn Art Gallery, Llandudno, North Wales - Residency
o Co-ordinated Drawing Development Programme BODYWORKS umbrella funded by CARTOON.
o BODYWORKS - Siriol Animation Productions, Cardiff
1995
o Word Overall, Swansea City of Literature Project. Mission Gallery - Commision
o Arts Council of Wales Bursary
1994
o Theatre Byd, touring exhibition in conjunction with 4 monologues - Commision
o Artist / Writers project, Newport, Gwent - Residency
o Artist in Residence, Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Gwent - Residency
1993
o The Oppenheim John Downes Memorial Trust Award
1991
o Artist in Residence, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea - Residency
1990
o Inscape Wales,Oriel,Welsh Arts Council. Touring Exhibition - Commision

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o National Museum & Galleries of Wales
o National Assembly for Wales
o Contemporary Art Society in Wales
o Sotheby's Contemporary Art Auction,
o The Orangery, Margam Park, Wales
o South Glamorgan County Council
o Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
o Numerous private collections

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