About my Practice
My studio practice explores how the interplay between image, material and process affect interpretation of place and notions of identity.
From 2D mixed media, sculpture and public art installations, overarching themes of boundaries, points of access and transitional moments or space connect the various stages of my practice.
Recent work was initiated through a period of material and process experimentation and incorporates photography, drawing and making 3D objects through which the physicality and association of various materials in different states in relation to image is considered.
Ideas are explored through materials and transfer of image between layers, by for example, tracing, cutting, piercing and other hand processes. The work primarily explores a relationship between records of place and material status, fluctuating between the universal and local; the global (objective) perspective to psycho-geographic (subjective) perspective, often related to places I have close connections with; North Norfolk, England and Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Currently I am working on a series which explores coastal vulnerability. The 'Offing' series is inspired by an old nautical term that describes a visible space between the shoreline and the sea horizon. Working in mixed media, the vulnerability of the Norfolk coastline is explored through incorporating fragile materials and physical, sometimes destructive processes.
The body of work in the ‘Somewhere’ series originates from maps of the British Isles. Tracings and images of geological, political and weather maps are transformed through handwork processes, changing the reading of them from maps into something wholly different in character and interpretation.
Collected together in the ‘Belfast Horizon’ series, perceived and physical boundaries in relation to landscape are significant as ideas around identity and place are explored.
Other major work is collected together in ‘Archive - public art commissions and sculpture’.
