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James milner

@butterflie__

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Room (Olympia)
2026
Plywood, CLS, emulsion paint, skirting board, screws, nails, Polyfilla, builder’s caulk, adhesive, carpet, carpet tape, door bar, drinking glasses, text on A4 paper (periodically removed during exhibition).

installed at the @sladeschool MFA/MA 2026 Degree Show as part of my show “Agoraphobia”

thank you again to everyone who helped me in anyway with this show, and thank you for all the amazing support and feedback❤️ by @butterflie__

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2 months ago

Drawing Two (Flute)
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm

Drawing Five
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm

Drawing Six
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm taken in Slade School of Fine Art by @butterflie__

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2 months ago

some photos of the my drawings from degree show.

The drawings all primarily focus on objects related to the subject matter of the show, primarily air, gas and domestic interiors. Ideologies and beliefs exist within all spaces. When we inhabit these spaces, we breathe these beliefs in and internalise them, especially when we are unaware of their existence and cannot consent to them (perhaps we might not even be aware that alternative beliefs exist).

Contemporary power is also increasingly being deployed in ways that mimic gas. It is subtle and without an obvious locus. Companies are using addictive technologies that manipulate dopamine to control users and gain capital (much like smoke and vape products that rely on nicotine to keep customers interested).

thats partially why I’ve been making rooms too, as containers for air and people and how those two things interact. how we enter a space and breathe in its air immediately. how our bodies’ automatic systems occur before our consciousness has a say. how a gas can be invisible, or silent, or odorless and therefore undetectable. I think this also loops back around to my relationship with god as a child, and particularly the understanding that he was omnipresent, unreachable but always present in any space or circumstance.

From left to right on Slide 2:
Drawing One (Sunset)
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm

Drawing Two (Flute)
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm

Drawing Three
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm
[seen individually in Slide 5]

Drawing Four
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm
[seen individually in Slide 3]

Drawing Five
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm

Drawing Six
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm

Drawing Seven (Kitchen)
2026
Graphite on paper.
27.7cm x 35.5cm
[seen individually in Slide 7]

I have some prints of the drawings still available if anyone wants one taken in Slade School of Fine Art by @butterflie__

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2 months ago

We are pleased to announce the recipient of The 2026 Perimeter Studio Award, James Milner!⁠
⁠
James Milner (b. 1999, Chelmsford, Essex) works predominantly across installation, drawing, scent and text. Milner’s work explores queerness in childhood and the expectation of norms (such as heterosexuality, marriage, capitalist productivity) projected onto the child. They’re interested in⁠ how childhood experiences and perceptions inform the subsequent adult mindset, and how being perceived as abnormal fixes a sense of otherness to one’s identity. ⁠
⁠
The work explores tensions between interior and exterior: sterile domestic spaces are constructed from exposed plywood and screws. In doing so, it questions how narratives around identity, space (such as the home) and ‘lifestyles’ (e.g. queerness or religion) are constructed, and how they can mask more fragile or unstable realities.⁠
⁠
James Milner graduated from this year's MA Fine Art Media course at the Slade School of Fine Art. ⁠
⁠
Milner will receive one year of a rent free studio space at Metroland Cultures, professional development opportunities, mentorship sessions and a bursary.⁠
⁠
With special thanks to Metroland Cultures and Slade for partnering with The Perimeter to host this award, including the selection panel: Louise Shelley, Mary Evans, Holly Hendry, Izzie Beirne, Alexander V. Petalas, Polly Staple, Adam Farah-Saad, and Sasha Ercole.⁠
⁠
@butterflie__⁠
@metrolandcultures⁠
@sladeschool⁠
⁠
For more information on The Perimeter Studio Award, please visit our website via the link in bio⁠
⁠
Studio Portrait by @z_kai_x⁠
⁠
Room (Olympia)⁠
2026⁠
⁠
Drawing Exercise 1-4 ⁠
2025 ⁠
⁠
"I wanted to give my body an opportunity to assume conventionally beautiful poses which might integrate me into your world.” ⁠
2024⁠
⁠
Room (Manrose Gold)⁠
2026⁠
⁠
Drawing Four⁠
2026⁠ by @butterflie__

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3 months ago

Room (Manrose Gold)
2026
Plywood, CLS, emulsion paint, skirting board, screws, Polyfilla, builder’s caulk, bathroom sealant, carpet, door bar, Artex, batten lights, altered bathroom extractor fan, spray paint, ventilation piping, waste piping, cable clips, bathtub, carpet tape, adhesive, clear acrylic, reed diffuser, “Bleach One” fragrance composition in ethanol, DPG and IPM (2,6 Xylenol, Black Pine EO, Calone, (E,Z) 2,6 Nonadienyl Acetate, Habanolide, Helional, Helvetolide, Kephalis, Lilybelle, Undecavertol).

installed at the @sladeschool MFA/MA 2026 Degree Show as part of my show “Agoraphobia” ❤️

thank you to all my amazing first year helpers including @theo.vasiloudes @aashbland @hallamtwood @calebpinnell @_samuba @jochristosackerley @kellywustudio @ellatheajh @davidleall

thank you to @sarahmccartneythinks and @4160tuesdays for all of their help and guidance with the creation of the fragrance used in the reed diffuser.

thank you to all of my tutors and friends at slade for advice and support

and final thank you for anyone who came to see the show, especially if you wore the shoe covers❤️ taken in Slade School of Fine Art by @butterflie__

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3 months ago

my editions of perfume “Bleach One” and “Kid”

“Bleach One” [top right]
30ml Fragrance composition in ethanol and DPG (2,6 Xylenol, Black Pine EO, Calone, (E,Z) 2,6 Nonadienyl Acetate, Habanolide, Helional, Helvetolide, Kephalis, Lilybelle, Undecavertol). Edition of 9.

Used in Room (Manrose Gold) as part of the 2026 Slade School of Fine Art MA/MFA Degree Show (which is still on view until this sunday 21st June! I’m in the basement in studio 18)..

“Kid” [bottom left]
30ml Fragrance composition in ethanol, TEC, MMB, and BHT (Beeswax Absolute, Black Pepper, Black Pine EO, Cadaverine, Cedramber, Delphone, Elemi EO, Frankincense, Hedione, Iso-E-Super, Karmawood, Narcisse Oxyacetate, Olibanum Resinoid, Vanillin, Veramoss). Edition of 9.

Named after the friend this fragrance was originally made for.

Thank you to @sarahmccartneythinks and @4160tuesdays for their guidance and generousity throughout the creation of these fragrances and build up to my degree show. So honoured to have been taught by such a kind, amazing and talented person.

beautiful handmade boxes by @j.c.mccormack go to them for all your artisanal box making needs.

also huge thank you to @fahadjii for their general support and big generosity in rescuing me when I ran out of materials when I needed to make more of “Bleach One” for my degree show installation.

both are available at the slade ma/mfa degree show shop until sunday, or just send me a dm❤️ by @butterflie__

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3 months ago

photos of my work installed in the show @webdrivertorso___ curated in January, to be close to u,
with @aashbland and @theo.vasiloudes. thank you to @everybodylivesgallery and @thehaggerston for being amazing hosts.

Glasses (You’ll keep me safe for you)
2026
drinking glasses, print on glossy photo paper, pink floor by @butterflie__

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7 months ago

experiments❤️happy new year

(drinking glasses, prints on glossy photo paper, flowers, text on paper, ball bearings) made on blender by @butterflie__

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9 months ago

i’ve been thinking about rooms a lot. architecture and boundaries and bodies. inputs and outputs. orifices. for my third crit of @sladeschool back in november I reproduced a version of an older installation, with edits. these edits include the smell of bleach being diffused into the space (I’m starting to formulate my own scents rather than relying on found fragrance🙈)

there was also more stuff in this room around the corner but I’m keeping that a #secret for now :)

thank u to the lovely @open_source_andrew @zanedrees @cecilylj @ephemricala for assisting with install. and thank you to @yangenhume @webdrivertorso___ @oliviaharding__ @mrs_s_kan @theo.vasiloudes @z_kai_x for helping haul all my wood up and down the stairs of slade xx by @butterflie__

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10 months ago

new drawings and interim show install at slade
I guess I’m thinking about vanishing points and horizon lines and the stock images used on slideshows in church. and also bouquets

message me if u want prints x

…

Drawing Exercise 1-4
2025
7 in. x 10 in. each
Graphite on paper

Mock bouquet
2025
Dimensions variable.
Red rose bouquets from the nearest supermarket

@sladegradfam by @butterflie__

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a year ago

more drawings from a few months ago…

Big love with lily (2025)
graphite on paper

Love/panic attack/vaccum (2025)
graphite on paper

Love with Jesus on your back (2025)
graphite on paper by @butterflie__

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a year ago

Sweet my lily (2025)
graphite on paper
cannot remember dimensions

original drawing and prints (edition of 10) available. dm me x by @butterflie__

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a year ago