I have been developing my practice for well over two decades but have recently graduated from Central Saint Martins University of the Arts, London, with a Masters in Fine Art. My practice encompasses many genres such as painting, drawing, and sculpture. I use a variety of non-traditional materials in the making of my work, (such as sewing thread and collage on to the canvas surface, old clothing and blankets for the making of sculptures), which are not usually associated to a fine art. I have used old fashioned blankets to create multiple versions of myself by first sewing the material around my own body then re-stuffing afterward, resulting in the uncanny approximation of the female human form, these bodies pass comment upon the female body's procreative abilities but also the space between applied arts and fine arts and the hierarchy between the two. A significant part of my practice is involved with the making of both small and large scale pen and ink drawings. My inspirations come from many sources, and I am interested in issues concerning identity, the uncanny and concepts of self and other.
During the study of my MA I began to consider ideas around nostalgia in relation to photographic images of children and the problematic nature of society's hysteria towards viewing them. Through both drawing and painting I questioned how images of children from the past are viewed in an idealised manner. My interest in children's illustration has continued to influence how I make work. I source old photographs and de-contextualise their imagery, isolating them from their original surroundings, so that they seem both familiar and yet uncertain. By removing the 'context' I am trying to create a space for them to be viewed, and a particular kind of 'looking' which arrests the attention. I am interested in the oscillation between subject and object. The photographic image is no longer of integral importance, rather the feeling of ambiguity which is created from the recreation of objects which are intrinsically different from the original subjective photograph.
During the study of my MA I began to consider ideas around nostalgia in relation to photographic images of children and the problematic nature of society's hysteria towards viewing them. Through both drawing and painting I questioned how images of children from the past are viewed in an idealised manner. My interest in children's illustration has continued to influence how I make work. I source old photographs and de-contextualise their imagery, isolating them from their original surroundings, so that they seem both familiar and yet uncertain. By removing the 'context' I am trying to create a space for them to be viewed, and a particular kind of 'looking' which arrests the attention. I am interested in the oscillation between subject and object. The photographic image is no longer of integral importance, rather the feeling of ambiguity which is created from the recreation of objects which are intrinsically different from the original subjective photograph.