Eye, the Witness concludes Charlotte Cooper’s year-long residency at Hogarth’s House, the long-term family home of the painter, engraver and satirist William Hogarth. Cooper responds to the history of the building and its former inhabitants with a body of work that explores the complex relational bonds between humans and their environment over time.

Eye, the Witness ties in with the artist’s critical inquiry into the dynamic relationship between art and psychoanalysis. Placing a particular focus on female narratives and interpretations, the exhibition title echoes the joint process of ‘co-creation’ as identified by the psychoanalyst and feminist theorist Bracha L. Ettinger. Based on the notion that subjectivity is formed in relation to each other, rather than in isolation, the “eye” becomes both a perceptual witness and a poetic doubling of the self, shaped through encounter with the other.

Applying a contemporary approach to traditional printmaking techniques, Charlotte Cooper’s delicate installations reveal the psychological work of damage and repair – as each human link carries with it a vestige of all others that came before, and holds the possibility of the infinite links yet to come.

Eye, the Witness evolved from a visit to the Foundling Museum and in particular the fabric tokens left by mothers who were forced to give up their babies. As one of the former hospital’s founding governors, William Hogarth not only supported its mission but also fostered several Foundling children at his Chiswick home.

The two central works respond to a psychological study that examines the vital role of reciprocal interaction between infants and caregivers. A moving image piece captures the eyes of the two subjects as the experiment plays out. The second is an installation of patchworked prints, cascading into the space from a single hook to symbolise the physical and emotional support structures often taken for granted.

All works are made of paper crafted from mulberry fibre, linking the exhibition to the ancient mulberry tree that still stands in the garden of Hogarth’s House. Not only a living witness to the histories of the site, the mulberry also anchors the exhibition’s exploration of human entanglement with others, across species and across time. Silk moths, whose only food source are the leaves of the mulberry were bred for thousands of years for silk production and now exist entirely dependent on humans.

Charlotte Cooper is a UK-based artist whose work explores the intersection of art and psychoanalysis through traditional printmaking techniques. She specialises in monotype printing, lithography and etching, which she combines to create large-scale, sculptural installations. Her practice also extends into digital animation and artist’s books.

She graduated with a Print MA from The Royal College of Art in 2023. Her work has been exhibited at Southwark Park Gallery and at Woolwich and Bainbridge Print Fairs. She has recently been awarded a spot in Plaintiff Press’ bookbinding and publication fellowship programme and has work held in the V&A and RCA permanent collections.

Hogarth’s House has been open to the public since 1904. For most of its life it has displayed a collection of William Hogarth’s prints. Despite facing challenges throughout the 20th century, including bomb damage during the Second World War, the site has remained open to the public, preserving its role as a cultural and historical landmark.

A refurbishment in 2011 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (now National Lottery Heritage Fund) significantly enhanced the displays and visitor experience inside the house. The 2020 Mulberry Garden Project, also funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, has not only added the new Weston Studio for learning and activities, but also re-landscaped and re-interpreted the outside space to give the site an exhibition garden that highlights historic planting and themes.