SNIK: hand-cut portraiture, nature and the passage of time

SNIK is the British artist duo Nik Ellis and Laura Perrett. Their practice combines figurative portraiture with intricately hand-cut stencils, using layers and tonal transitions to give spray-painted images unusual delicacy. Herefordshire Council’s account of their work identifies both artists and records Perrett’s explanation of a process in which each contributes to different stages of the image.

Labor behind the image

Working together since 2012, the pair have taken that process from studio surfaces to substantial public walls. Their publisher Bio Editions connects the portraiture to a contemporary interpretation of Pre-Raphaelite imagery and documents projects with Nuart, HK Walls and Urban Nation. Hand-cutting remains central even at mural scale. Some stencils take months to prepare, so a seemingly momentary pose can contain a long period of construction.

That tension between a transient image and sustained physical work also informs Ephemeral. The project occupied London’s Crypt Gallery in 2019 and a disused northern English factory in 2021. Its subject was the relationship between human presence, growth and decay. Rather than treating the venue as a neutral backdrop, the exhibitions brought viewers into spaces whose condition echoed the imagery. Bio Editions’ 2021 book documented the conception and execution of both presentations, making the project accessible beyond those temporary settings.

Nature connected to place

The Hereford mural Forget Me Not gives those broader concerns a specific local form. A female figure is surrounded by plants associated with wildflower meadows, including columbine, meadow vetchling and forget-me-not. The artists also created a small planted area below the wall. The commissioning council’s documentation explains the intention to connect people with the environment through both the depicted plants and a garden they can encounter directly.

The stencil across different surfaces

SNIK’s studio account of Flourish describes the same hand-cut design moving across paper, brass and canvas. The artists emphasize how the different supports change the character of the resulting work. This is a useful way into their editions: the image is one component, while texture, application and surface contribute to the finished object. A named composition is therefore not a complete description of a work.

The hand-painted cover version of the Ephemeral book carries that process into publishing, using a hand-cut stencil and spray paint on the cover. It illustrates an important collecting distinction: the book’s printed contents and the artwork on its exterior are different components of one object. A screenprint, a painted stencil work and a mural may share imagery, while their making processes remain central to understanding each.