ABOUT

BH APP

Bev Hayes - Visual Artist, Photographer - Printmaker

UK
Batchelor of Fine Arts (Hons) U.W.E (Bristol) Printmaking
Print Tutor Bluecoat Print Studio, Liverpool
Trained Photographer in Film & Digital Photography Studios (UK) 1996 - 2005
Bev Hayes Photographic Studio 2005 - 2012
Member of Hot Bed Press, Salford, UK, 2021
Member of The Bluecoat Print Studio 2023

Sweden
Printmaking Studio Practice since 2017
Member Ålgården Konstnärernas Verkstäder & Galleri, Borås 2020
Member Konstnärernas Kollektiv Verkstad KKV BGB 2020
Ansvarig för Koppargrafik ( Delat ) Jan 2022
Print workshop manager KKV GBG Since Jan 2022

“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head.”

– Henri Cartier-Bresson

Creative Biography

British-born visual artist Bev Hayes is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she works in visual arts, digital photography, and analogue printmaking. She holds a BFA (Hons) in Studio Arts and Printmaking from England, and her career has included roles in the arts and education sectors, from gallery management to photography direction, as well as running her own portrait studio before moving to Sweden in 2012.

Since 2020, Bev has been an active member of Grafikverkstaden at Konstnärernas Kollektivverkstad in Gothenburg and Ålgården Grafikverkstad in Borås. As a full-time artist, she creates collections of photopolymer gravures from her photographic work and collaborates with local and international artists on exhibitions and film projects. She regularly exhibits and sells her work at art fairs in Sweden and abroad.

Most recently, Bev gained representation and exhibited with Grafik i Väst in Gothenburg.

Studio Practice

Her print practice centres on printmaking and photography, with a growing interest in experimental moving image. Across these media runs a shared curiosity for mark-making and the tactile presence of images in material form. Whether through the camera lens or a hand-drawn sketch, her process weaves digital and analogue together through cycles of iteration, reinterpretation, and deconstruction.

She works with low-toxic printmaking methods, including water-developed photopolymer gravure and saline etching for aluminium and zinc. While committed to preserving traditional printmaking, Bev chooses techniques that avoid harsh chemicals for both environmental and health reasons.

Some of her photo-collaged works begin as discarded prints, gradually reassembled into new layers and possibilities. Themes often run in parallel, allowing images to shift, recombine, and repeat in pattern. This fluid approach defies strict genre and keeps her imagery rooted in the natural world. Reusing and reworking imagery is both a resourceful practice and a deliberate artistic strategy.

Research and field observation play an important role in her work. She gathers material exploring humanity’s relationship with the natural environment—our sense of place, wellbeing, and the shifting landscapes we inhabit. Digital recordings and moving-image studies explore sensory impressions in both micro and macro ways.

Walking through forests, climbing coastal rocks, or retracing familiar routes, she pays attention to the landmarks and signals that often go unnoticed in modern life. Her work questions how technological advancement—and the ease of digital experience—affects our ability to stay connected to the natural world. If artificial systems increasingly shape our perception, can we still maintain the instinctive relationship with nature that once grounded us?

Her images draw from the harmonies, rhythms, and interconnectedness found in seasonal cycles—echoes of symbiotic relationships that point toward a more sustainable future. One work from her 2020 collaborative project called HYPHAE explores this connective thread between humans and nature.

Read and see more about HYPHAE.

A print practice comes full circle, reflected in works ranging from her degree studies—Translations I, II, III, A Poetry of Place, and Leaving a Place You Are Connected To—to more recent series such as Elements (of the Long Season) and A Short Tale of Two Cities.

Bev Hayes, 2024

Printmaking Practice

BA (Hons) in Fine Art and Printmaking 1992-1995
Studied traditional printmaking at the University of the West of England, Bristol, and at the Centre for Fine Print Research.'
Foundation Studies with Print Modules at John Moores University, Liverpool 1990-1991
Printmaking Tutor, Bluecoat Arts Centre, Print Room, Liverpool, UK 1998 -2002
Photopolymer Intaglio Courses, Konstnärernas Kollektivverkstad, Gothenburg since 2022
Photopolymer Intaglio Courses at The Bluecoat, Liverpool since 2024
Print Practice, Hot Bed Press, UK since 2023