ABOUT GEMMA COOK
BIOGRAPHY
Gemma combines being an artist with being a doctoral researcher both of which are driven by a curiosity to understand human experience. Her artistic practice is fundamentally figurative. She creates charcoal drawings at pace, that capture movement and emotion, with a liberating freedom of movement helped by using her whole body when she draws. She also enjoys performance drawing to live music and dance.
Although Gemma’s work can appear instantaneous, she has developed an extremely disciplined process, and is meticulous in managing the messiness of charcoal to ensure a pristine background. She chooses not to fix her work, to retain the raw expressiveness of the charcoal and its spray.
She began lifedrawing nearly twenty years ago at Sketchpaddrawing in Herne Hill, and is now a regular attender at the Sussex County Arts Club. She also practices from her own art studio in Brighton.
Gemma's PhD has used arts-based methods to explore the meaning of policy experiences of adults living with cerebral palsy. This has involved working in a co-creative team to create art outputs such as poetry film.
Academic Achievements
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Doctoral Researcher - Grand Union Doctoral Training Pathway - ESRC Funded Scholarship - Hosted by Brunel University London
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MSc - Global Health Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
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BSc - Physiotherapy - King's College London
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BA - Combined Arts - University of Liverpool
Employment
Gemma is trustee to the newly founded Rosie Jones Foundation.
She has conducted multiple disability consultancies for different organisations including the European Disability Forum, evaluating its programme in Ukraine 2023-2025; a consultancy with the United Nations Global Disability Fund in 2024 supporting analyses of country reports; she has recently worked with Innovation Leader The Catapult to research what a disability inclusive future air travel service would look like.
Gemma was an International Disability Policy Manager for Leonard Cheshire Disability Charity 2018 - 2022 ; she developed her interest in disability policy whilst working as a neurological physiotherapist in diverse contexts, including several NHS teaching hospitals, and with The International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan. She believes her work experience is inseparable from and integral to her art. Her background as a physiotherapist has given her an innate knowledge of the human body, which translates into her drawing.


AWARDS
2024
Sussex County Arts Club
1st Prize
2023
Sussex County Arts Club
Joint 2nd Prize
2022
Sussex County Arts Club
1st Prize
EXHIBITIONS
2019
'Stolen Hearts Auction' Saatchi HeadQuarters - exhibitor & seller
September 2018
Gypsy Hill Brewery Solo Exhibition
January 2018
Solo Show 'Douglas Fir' Crystal Palace
December 2017 - February 2018
Joint exhibitor Dartmouth Arms Forest Hill
2016
Joint exhibitor Dulwich Open
2011 - 2018
Joint exhibitor Sketchpad Drawing - bestseller twice