About the work

This drawing of mulberries is made on handmade mulberry paper with mulberry inks and other natural inks. The mulberry inks are made from fresh mulberries, dried and fermented mulberries, burnt mulberries and mulberry leaves. All parts of the mulberry tree have traditional medicinal uses. There is a growing map of London’s mulberry trees called the Morus Londinium and it is thought that the ancient trees were an attempt by King James I to start a home-grown silk industry in the 17th century because silkworms feed exclusively on the leaves of mulberry trees. He ordered the planting of hundreds of mulberry trees, but it was the black mulberry trees that are known for their wonderful fruits that were planted, and not the white mulberries which silkworms prefer

Date and country of birth

1978, GB

Career Highlights

Fiona Long graduated with a 1st in BA Painting at Wimbledon College of Art in 2010 and took part in the Turps Banana Studio Painting Programme 2014-2016 and also has a degree in psychology.

She has taken part in residencies on sustainability in Spain, waste in Tokyo, place exploration at Kurt Schwitters Merz Barn in the Lake District and calligraphy at the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester.

Recent selected exhibitions include: Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023; Subsumed-Absorbing Surfaces, The Crypt Gallery, Contemporary British Painting, 2018; Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2018; ING Discerning Eye 2016, Mall Galleries; Turps Goes West, Edel Assanti, 25, 2015; Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2015.