ARTIST'S STATEMENT
The coalescence of art and science, interaction and chance, order and chaos underpins my work. With an emphasis on experimentation and process themes of transition, manipulation, ephemerality and 'imperfection' are explored using found objects, waste material and organic matter, fused with precious and semi-precious elements. I have a fascination with texture, degradation and decay and in the traces and residues left behind often using the body as tool and material to explore the transference, intervention and preservation of the self; bodily presence in absence of the body.
British anthropologist Mary Douglas' definition of dirt as 'matter out of place' has led me to engage into the conflict, attitudes and responses between the usual associations of discarded matter and it's re-valued and elevated context. I am interested in The Uncanny, abjection, the paradoxical 'push and pull' reaction, what it is in human nature that draws us in and at the same time repels us and how this response can be manipulated through re-contextualisation.
My work is therefore rooted in what's discarded and the potential of renewal, physically and conceptually, through a cyclical self-fulfilling process.
I reuse, rework, repurpose and recycle as many materials as possible within and across my art and jewellery practices by incorporating remnants and waste from one piece of work to construct a new one. For example digital negatives from photographic prints then become resists for etching texture into copper or silver for jewellery or printmaking and are then turned into stencils or plates for printing and painting. All waste paper is recycled into surfaces for printmaking, drawing and painting or as elements for creating and packaging my jewellery. Silver and wax offcuts and filings are melted down and reused…
My current focus is to detoxify my processes as much as possible, to constantly seek out responsible and sustainable alternatives to improve sustainability in my practice whilst retaining the quality and integrity of my work.
This mult-level interrogation has culminated in artwork and unique jewellery collections that harness both control and spontaneity in their materials and the process of their making and so have the potential to, or the feeling of being able to, transform and evolve over time.
The coalescence of art and science, interaction and chance, order and chaos underpins my work. With an emphasis on experimentation and process themes of transition, manipulation, ephemerality and 'imperfection' are explored using found objects, waste material and organic matter, fused with precious and semi-precious elements. I have a fascination with texture, degradation and decay and in the traces and residues left behind often using the body as tool and material to explore the transference, intervention and preservation of the self; bodily presence in absence of the body.
British anthropologist Mary Douglas' definition of dirt as 'matter out of place' has led me to engage into the conflict, attitudes and responses between the usual associations of discarded matter and it's re-valued and elevated context. I am interested in The Uncanny, abjection, the paradoxical 'push and pull' reaction, what it is in human nature that draws us in and at the same time repels us and how this response can be manipulated through re-contextualisation.
My work is therefore rooted in what's discarded and the potential of renewal, physically and conceptually, through a cyclical self-fulfilling process.
I reuse, rework, repurpose and recycle as many materials as possible within and across my art and jewellery practices by incorporating remnants and waste from one piece of work to construct a new one. For example digital negatives from photographic prints then become resists for etching texture into copper or silver for jewellery or printmaking and are then turned into stencils or plates for printing and painting. All waste paper is recycled into surfaces for printmaking, drawing and painting or as elements for creating and packaging my jewellery. Silver and wax offcuts and filings are melted down and reused…
My current focus is to detoxify my processes as much as possible, to constantly seek out responsible and sustainable alternatives to improve sustainability in my practice whilst retaining the quality and integrity of my work.
This mult-level interrogation has culminated in artwork and unique jewellery collections that harness both control and spontaneity in their materials and the process of their making and so have the potential to, or the feeling of being able to, transform and evolve over time.